From Mella’s Italian Kitchen: Maui
My sister Marie, who has been making delicious biscotti for years, finally shared her recipe with me a while back. Last week, I went on a baking frenzy and decided to make a variety of scotti and biscotti. You’re probably thinking, “I know what biscotti are, but what are scotti?” Well, here’s a brief piece of baking history…
Whenever cookies are in the oven, you can count on our family friend Sid to be there. I call him my sous chef because he likes to be in the kitchen watching over everything. The last few times I did my baking, he insisted on taking the biscotti out of the oven too soon. We would banter back and forth as I tried to explain the concept of traditional biscotti to him, but my lesson fell on deaf ears. “Biscotti are supposed to be hard so that they don’t fall apart when they’re dipped in coffee or any other hot beverage of choice. The word biscotti means twice baked,” I said. But the oven still opened up before its time. He just did not appreciate the intended crunchy, hard texture of a perfectly baked cookie.
In a final compromise, I simply shortened the second baking time to five minutes on the last batch of biscotti and gave them to Sid. He joyfully thanked me and proclaimed that he liked the “scotti” much better than the biscotti. Hence, the term “scotti” was coined. So, for those of you who prefer softer biscotti, you now have the option of making the lightly baked version.
Marie’s Almond Biscotti
6 cups flour (set 1/2 cup aside for flouring board)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped, toasted almonds
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ounces olive oil
2 tsp amaretto or rum (optional)
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients well. Add wet ingredients and mix until dough separates from sides of bowl. On a floured board, roll dough into five 2-inch thick logs (slightly flattened). Place logs on a large parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Slice each log diagonally into 1/2 inch thick strips. Separate strips slightly and bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes (for “scotti” bake for 5 minutes only).
Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Follow Almond Biscotti recipe, except:
Add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, decrease flour by 1/2 cup, increase sugar by 1/2 cup
