I first posted this recipe at Christmas a couple of years ago, but I’m going to repeat it here as it’s a quick way to make someone a last minute Christmas present. Or to just treat yourself!
Biscotti (Italian for biscuit) are those nice little almond morsels one sometimes gets with coffee or with a dessert, especially in continental cafés. They’re dead easy and quick to make and much nicer than the commercial ones. I’ve just made two batches in 90 minutes and wrapped several presents in between times.
Almond Biscotti (makes 25-30)
Ingredients
2 large eggs
175g sugar
50g butter (preferably melted)
200g blanched or flaked almonds (preferably toasted)
250g plain white flour
30g ground almonds
1 teasp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 teasp vanilla essence
2 teasp almond essence
Method
- Blend together the eggs and sugar.
- Add all the other ingredients except the almonds and blend to make a sticky dough.
- Now add the almonds and mix them in.
- If you can be bothered let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour; I don’t bother.
- Cover a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Spread the mixture onto the baking sheets making a long shape about 6-8cm wide and 1cm thick. Don’t worry if it is uneven, no-one will even realise and they’re supposed to look “rustic”.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175°C for 25 minutes. (If you have a fan assisted oven, use the fan.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes.
- Carefully remove the baking parchment and cut with a sharp knife into approx. 1cm slices. Angle the cuts to get the authentic look.
- Now return the slices to the baking sheet, with one cut side down, and re-bake at 175°C for 10-15 minutes.
- Cool and store in an airtight box.
- Serve with coffee or ice-cream desserts; or use as presents.
Notes
- You can use a food processor for all the mixing, it’s much quicker. But unless you have a large professional machine don’t double up the mixture.
- If using a food processor go gently when mixing in the almonds as you don’t want them smashed up — which happens to flaked almonds all too easily.
- I use flaked almonds because they are kinder to the teeth especially if you’re giving them to anyone elderly.
- Do not be tempted to over cook or you will get a hard result.
- The biscotti will be a bit soft after the first bake so you will need to cut them carefully with a very sharp knife.
- How long you make the second bake depends on how crunchy you like the end result. I find 10 minutes is enough: crunchy when cold but not too tough on the teeth.
- There are a number of variants on this: some add a small amount of instant coffee, or citrus rind. Or you can leave out the ground almonds (if so add just a small amount more flour), the vanilla essence or almond essence.
- For a really rich result you can part dip the biscotti in melted dark chocolate. Personally I think they are scrummy and rich enough without.
- The end slices, which may not be good as presents, could be used for that Christmas Day trifle.
Photo by me of the second batch I made this afternoon.
Looking back my mother had a bad enough time coping with my father without me making things worse. I was going to say that my parents were semi-vegetarian, but that would be wrong. My father was a wannabe vegetarian; he would eat some meat (sausages and bacon always disappeared) and some fish. He would never eat offal or shellfish on the grounds that they’re all scavengers and thus unhealthy. But my mother was more wedded to meat; and it was noticeable that when my father died the vegetarian cookery books went out the house within days! So she would often feed herself and me on meat at lunchtimes, when father was at work, and then provide (semi-)vegetarian regularly in the evenings. (We kept chickens for many years so there were always eggs to be had.) And she always provided good, wholesome, balanced meals. I always enjoyed anything with cheese sauce, and her nut roast was also always good (especially as it usually appeared with a rasher of bacon!). Now how many kids would admit to liking nut roast? 
Frost & Sun. We had our first really frosty night of the winter this week. Lovely Alpine morning. So refreshing.
Jerusalem Artichokes. They’re a slightly strange vegetable which almost no-one knows. We always grew them when I was a kid and I’ve loved them ever since. So now we buy them whenever we see them. Fortunately Waitrose usually stock them. They’re a root vegetable so in season really from late October to March, although like sprouts and parsnips better for a touch of frost. They look like small, knobbly potatoes which are very soft inside when cooked. Cook them like potatoes (don’t even consider peeling them): just scrub them and cut out any damage; leave them whole unless they are unusually large. Boiled or steamed is fine. I can’t think mashed or chipped would work. Roast is definitely best as they caramelise slightly. There are a number of varieties around: some redder, some browner; some more, some less knobbly. And they’re very easy things to grow; they’re tall (up to 6 feet or so) and with a sunflower-like flower.
Something I Like: Fresh Snow
Here’s a quick, easy, cheap and wholesome meal. It’s a variation on my usual theme of chuck it all in a pan until done. So I give you …
Yes, today, the third Thursday in November, is the official release date fr this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau.
It came straight out of the bottle, into the glass and down the gullet. And it was brilliant — it is every bit as good as last year’s stunner. A deep raspberry red in colour, with a hit of blackcurrant. Exceptionally fruity. A slight raw, acidic edge but much less than one would expect from Nouveau. And none of the so frequent yeasty taste. Like all Nouveau this is a drinking wine, not a keeping wine. It will probably be past it’s best by Christmas. (OK, so that’s why I didn’t buy more.)