Italian Biscotti with Chocolate and Almonds

Crumbly biscotti with white wine, chocolate, and dried cranberries. Tinged with sugared  orange and crunchy almonds. Slightly burnt, and soft & tender inside… These really are the perfect Italian Biscotti.

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These cookies are like a whole meal. Nice and tummy-filling from the almond flour and thick with decorations, I like to eat these for lunch. Not after lunch, but FOR lunch. (when I make cookies I eat lots of cookies, FYI). 

While whipping these up for the first time, my mother came over. I could tell by the look on her face when she saw me packing them away that I should stop in my tracks because they weren’t going to stay packed away for long. 

I baked these on a non stick Silpat baking mat. <BUY HERE>

Biscotti really are quite simple to make, and these are no exception. They don’t need to chill, or be twice baked. It’s really just mix, shape, cut, and bake. Then eat. and eat. and eat.

These biscotti also hold together and are longer-lasting, so they make great gifts. Tie them up with pretty ribbon, place in little boxes, and become the neighbour everyone wants to have.

Where did these Italian Jewish Biscottis come from?

*Originating from the Jewish Ghetto in Rome, these biscotti are traditionally called “Pizza Ebraica”.  

*Don’t worry this is a bar cookie, not a pizza. (Pizza, at the time of the Spanish Inquisition- when the Jews came to Rome- simply meant “pie”, without inclining towards a sweet or savoury meal dish.)

*Called the favourite dessert of Pope Benedict XVI.

What will you find in this bar biscotti? 

Mmmmmm… caramelised sugars, just-burnt raisins and cranberries, candied fruits, and chocolate. I added flavours here- these are not the traditional Pizza Ebraica! If I am making a biscotti it is going to have chocolate in it thank you very much.

Let’s see some photos of the process..

Shape the dough into a log…

Slice up the log…

Eye candy.

Separate the cookies so the edges can get nice and crisp..

This recipe is adapted from oogionet which is in Hebrew and in turn adapted from this recipe. Both of those blogs are great!

I hope you enjoy these Italian Biscotti! Please say hello and tag your creations on Insta with estee_bestie.

Lots of love, Estee

Italian Biscotti

Estee

Crumbly soft biscotti filled with dried fruits and nuts.

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Ingredients

  

• 2/3 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1 1/2 cup almond flour 170 grams
• 1/3 cup coconut flakes 25 grams
• 2 cups white flour 300 gram
• 1/2 cup demarara sugar 98 gram
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup canola oil 100 gram
• 1/4 cup sugared orange peel cubed
• 1/3 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup cranberries
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Place wine and raisins in a bowl to soak for 10 minutes. This plumps the raisins up so they don’t shrivel and dry out while baking.
• In a bowl, combine almond four, ground coconut, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
• Add in oil and mix to combine.
• Remove the raisins from the wine and slowly add in the wine. (pour in about 3/4 of the wine and mix. if the dough is soft and ready you may not need to add it all(although I did). Mix until a soft dough forms.
• Add in the raisins, cranberries, almonds, orange peel, and chocolate chips. Mix.
• Preheat oven to 220 celsius. Gather the dough into a ball and place it on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Shape the dough into a long rectangle- keep it thick, about 24 cm x 18 cm.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into about 12-16 slices. If you want smaller square-sized biscotti you can then cut each cookie into half. Slightly separate the biscotti and touch up any rough edges. Sprinkle the tops lightly with demarara sugar.
• Bake for 10 minutes on the lower oven shelf, then switch to the middle shelf to continue baking for another 5-10 minutes(depending on your oven, mine took a total of 12 min). When the cookies look SLIGHTLY burnt, and the raisins DO look burnt, they're ready! Don't worry, the inside will stay nice and soft. Eat these with coffee, as snacks, or tie up with string and give as gifts!

Keyword dessert