I actually baked biscotti in December as a Christmas gift for friends. I used essentially the same recipe then as I did now, so I had a better idea of what I was doing and they turned out better than before. The recipe is Sarah Moulton's Raisin Almond Biscotti found here, be prepared to spend some time on it. (That's why it's a biscotti process.) I follow it pretty closely except I find that 3 eggs is inadequate to bring the dough together and 1 whole egg is too much eggwash.
Basically, my modifications to the recipe this time include:
-soaking the raisins in the juice of one orange (instead of Cointreau, which I'm sure is lovely, but. . . expensive).
-adding the zest of 1 orange with the eggs and vanilla for even more orange flavour
-using 4 large eggs instead of 3 to bring the dough together
-only using as much eggwash as seems necessary
These are my two just golden, shiny (eggwash!) biscotti logs after their first half hour bake in a 325 F oven:
It's important to shape the logs very square so the ends won't result in undersized cookies. I did a much better job cutting uniform slices this time for more beautiful slices. It's best to cut straight a cross, not on an angle. I think I made that mistake last time.
Slices reveal a pretty yellow tinge from the zest/egg combination:
After baking for 12 minutes on one side and 10 minutes on the other, the dry, golden brown biscotti are a beauty to behold:
To ensure the quality of my gift, I ate a couple of end pieces with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea (sorry coffee makes me sick). They were very crispy but softened nicely in the tea. The flavours of orange, raisin, and toasted almond went well together. Overall, these are great cookies for with hot beverages and relatively healthy with no butter or oil at all.I actually ate many of the biscotti I made in December myself. A biscotti and a cup of (decaf) tea was a remarkably effective (and pleasurable) relaxation ritual before bed during the exam time.
