A popular Italian confectionery product is dry biscuits with the general name biscotti. Long and slightly curved slices of sliced biscuits, literally “twice-baked” biscuits. Biscotto, biscotto - this is what cookies are called in Italy.
In the Tuscany region, in Florence, a special type of this cookie is baked - cantucci (cantuccini). Traditional recipe These cookies do not contain fat, leavening agents, or yeast. Therefore, the cookies turn out dry, which is important. IN original recipe For such cookies, only almonds are used, although, as a rule, various nuts, candied fruits, candied fruits and raisins are added. In addition, the finished cookies are dipped in chocolate and, after it hardens, the product is stored for a very long time.
Internationally, this type of cookie is known as biscotti di Prato. Served with drinks - coffee or tea, but more often with sweet wine or. In the East they bake similar almond cookies -. This is a special very dry pastry in the form of small disks, made from almond dough with oriental spices, unusually aromatic and piquant.
In Italy, this is the name for almost any double-baked cookie, although only macaroons have their own name - cantucci. This culinary masterpiece has ancient history. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, dry cookies were baked for hiking - they can be stored for a very long time and not spoil. In ancient handwritten texts there are recipes for similar cookies, and only in the middle of the 19th century did the Italian Antonio Mattei, a pastry chef from Prato, publish a recipe that became a “classic”.
The essence of the cooking process is that a baked thin “baguette” of dough, while still hot, is cut into narrow strips and put back into the oven for final drying. After this, the cookies can be stored for several months.
Modern versions of cookies are prepared according to different recipes that are not similar to each other. Although mass-produced cookies are closer to almond cantucci. Modern homemade cookies, in addition to almonds, as a rule, contains various nuts (hazelnuts, peanuts and pine nuts). And also spices - anise, ginger or cinnamon. In addition, chocolate glaze is often found.
We made these amazing baked goods using several types of nuts and fruits, without the use of fat or leavening agents. Extraordinarily tasty dry biscuits - ideal for tea, coffee or orange juice. Special thanks to my daughter Yulia for the recipe; she has a talent for baking.
Ingredients (20-25 pcs)
- Wheat flour 2.5-3 cups (325 g)
- Eggs 5 pcs
- Sugar 1 cup
- Raisins (seedless) 100 g
- Almonds 100 g
- Hazelnuts 100 g
- Dried cranberries 100 g
- Candied lemon peel 50 g
- Kiwi or candied pomela 50 g
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg to taste
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Biscotti. Step by step recipe
- By and large, it is enough to use only almonds. But for home and family you always want something bright and colorful, carnival and colorful. To hell with the classics! We will bake dry cookies using various nuts and candied fruits. It is advisable, in addition to almonds, to add: hazelnuts, raisins and multi-colored candied fruits - yellow lemon, red cranberries, green kiwi or pomelo. At your discretion. The composition and amount of additives can vary widely.
Nuts and candied fruits for amazing cookies
- First, you need to chop large candied fruits with a knife so that the size of all the pieces is approximately the size of raisins and cranberries. Mix raisins, cranberries and candied fruits in a bowl. Pour boiling water from the kettle for 10 minutes to soften the hard pieces. Then drain the mixture in a colander and squeeze lightly. The water should drain completely.
Mix raisins, cranberries and candied fruits in a bowl, pour boiling water over them
- Prepare cookie dough. Mix the contents of 4 eggs and 1 cup of sugar in a mixer bowl. Beat eggs with sugar until thick foam forms. Approximately the same as used for cream.
Mix sugar and eggs
- Mix spices in a cup. For such a quantity of ingredients, I advise you to use 0.5 tsp. ground cinnamon and ginger, 1-2 pinches of ground nutmeg. Pour the spice mixture into the beaten eggs and mix again with a mixer.
Beat eggs with sugar and add spices
- Sift the flour through a sieve to remove all excess and prevent the formation of lumps in the dough. Continuing to mix the beaten eggs with a mixer, add flour. In the end, you need 2 cups of flour and another full tablespoon. In general, this is approximately 350 gr.
Add flour and prepare dough
- The final dough should not be dense, but not runny either. Something close to very thick honey. If you scoop the dough into a spoon and lift it, the dough should slowly stretch under its own weight. If the dough is more liquid, you need to add flour - just a little - to adjust the viscosity.
The final dough should not be dense
- Water has already drained from the candied fruits, but, in any case, they are wet. Therefore, in order for the biscotti dough to envelop the candied fruits, add 1 tsp to them. flour and mix. This will ensure that the dough adheres to the candied fruits.
Mix candied fruits with flour
- Pour candied fruits into the dough, add whole nuts - hazelnuts and almonds. In principle, although many insist on this, it is not worth peeling nuts from the shell. However, as you wish.
Pour candied fruits into the dough, add whole nuts
- Using a spatula, carefully and thoroughly mix the thick dough with nuts and candied fruits. By the way, mixing requires some effort, since the mixture is very viscous.
Gently and thoroughly mix the thick dough with a spatula.
- The finished dough can contain up to half of nuts and candied fruits by volume. In appearance, it is somewhat reminiscent of an Olivier salad, generously sprinkled with the hated mayonnaise.
The finished dough can contain up to half of nuts and candied fruits
- Line a metal baking tray of a suitable size with baking paper and sprinkle it with flour. Place the dough on a baking sheet, in a kind of French baguette - along the entire length of the baking sheet.
- Dust your hands with flour and form an oblong cake-like shape with your hands. Don't try to make geometrically correct shapes - it's unnecessary.
Place the dough on a baking sheet
- Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, generously and without missing any areas. This is necessary for greasing before baking. Beat one egg with a fork until smooth. Using a brush, brush the entire surface of the dough with egg.
Dust the surface of the dough with flour
- Preheat the oven to 210-220 degrees and place a baking sheet with dough in it. The first baking stage takes about 30 minutes. You need to be guided by the browning of the crust, brushed with egg - you must not let it burn.
The first baking stage takes about 30 minutes.
- After finishing the first stage of baking, remove from the oven and, without delay, while the dough is still hot, cut it crosswise into slices 15-20 mm thick.
Remove the finished cookies from the oven and cut
- Actually, the cookies can be thicker or thinner, if desired. But it is worth remembering that this is a dry product, and it is necessary that it dry out during the second stage of baking.
Sift the flour into a bowl with baking powder, add a pinch of salt. Cut the cold butter into cubes, then place it in the bowl of a food processor, add sugar and grind everything into crumbs.
Add the eggs to the butter, continuing to beat. Then add flour little by little. Add chopped nuts and raisins. Knead the resulting dough well on a floured surface, wrap in film and place in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, knead it again, and form it into a flat loaf. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven. Cut the loaf into pieces 1-2 cm thick. Place the resulting cookies on a baking sheet with the cut side up and put them back in the oven, bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Cool the finished cookies a little, pour melted white chocolate or brush with peanut butter. If desired, you can decorate the treat by sprinkling nuts or raisins on top.
Bon appetit!
Hi all! Today I invite you to make very tasty crispy cookies; I’ll tell you in detail how to make Italian biscotti croutons. They are easy to prepare, aromatic and go great with a cup of tea.
To bake this Italian delicacy, you don’t need exotic products, because it’s not for nothing that they say that everything ingenious is simple. For your convenience, I have prepared the recipe step by step and with photos.
If not overused, biscotti can even be beneficial for the body, thanks to the content of cranberries and almonds, rich in vitamins and minerals.
What will you need?
1. Almonds – 150 gr.
2. Chicken eggs (you can also use quail or guinea fowl eggs - whatever you can find) - 4 pcs.
3. Wheat flour – 400 gr.
4. Cold boiled water – 1 tbsp.
5. Sugar – 1 cup (250 gr.)
6. Dried cranberries – 50 gr.
7. Vanillin (vanilla sugar) – 1 sachet.
8. Baking powder - 1 tsp.
9. Salt – 1 tsp.
Preparation of ingredients:
First, we lay out all the products on the work surface so as not to have to search for them for a long time.
To make it tastier, I highly recommend sifting the flour thoroughly. I prefer to take iodized or edible sea salt, as it contains more useful substances than regular salt.
As for the baking powder, it’s quite easy to make it yourself from 12 teaspoons of wheat flour or potato starch, 5 tsp. soda and 3 tsp. citric acid. All this needs to be mixed thoroughly, the result will be a mixture that will last for a long time.
It’s very easy to check eggs for freshness by placing them in a glass of water. A good, fresh egg will sink to the bottom, and a rotten one will hang out in the middle or even float to the surface due to hydrogen sulfide accumulated under the shell, the same gas that gives off a characteristic unpleasant odor.
Let's start cooking:
1. Separate a third of the nuts (50 grams) and peel them, placing them in a saucer with boiling water for 10-15 minutes, which is then drained.
The peel will come off very easily, just rub the almonds between your palms.
2. Now we need to dry the nuts, to do this we cover a baking sheet with baking paper and pour the almonds there. Leave for 10 minutes at an oven temperature of 140-150 degrees.
Turn off the heat, cool the nuts and chop them with a knife or any other convenient method (for example, in a mortar) into large pieces.
3. While the almonds are drying, you can make the dough. For it you need to take 1 egg, separate the white from the yolk and add the other 3 eggs to the yolk, it is better to take this one. Leave the white as we will use it to coat our biscotti. Add vanilla and a spoonful of water to the eggs, mix thoroughly. It is advisable to do this with a whisk.
4. The next step is to thoroughly mix salt, sugar and baking powder in a separate bowl.
5. Turn on the oven until it warms up to 180 degrees, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
6. Knead with your hands, gradually add chopped nuts - both dried and regular.
7. Pour in the cranberry powder and mix very thoroughly to form a homogeneous mass.
8. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.
9. Parts and from each we form a sausage. We cover the baking sheet with paper and lay out our preparations, grease them with whipped egg white and leave for half an hour at 180 degrees.
11. Cut diagonally into pieces approximately 1*1 cm.
12. Place in the oven again for 10-15 minutes until they are golden brown and dry.
13. The cookies are ready, bon appetit!
As you can see, there is nothing complicated. You can change the recipe and add other nuts to the dough - walnuts, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts. It turns out very tasty if you use spices - cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and various seeds, for example, poppy, sesame, flax-seed or sunflower.
Don't be afraid to experiment, invent your own dishes! Use only high-quality and fresh products for cooking.
What is biscotti
The word "biscotti" is plural from "biscotto", which in Latin means "twice baked". The method of preparing biscotti has not changed - they are still baked twice. First, long loaves are baked, then cut crosswise into convenient slices and baked again to dry and make them crispy. By the way, the familiar biscuit got its name from biscotti, but did not retain the main principle of preparation - biscuits are baked only once and remain soft.
History of biscotti
Biscotti croutons are not as simple as they seem. Their history goes back at least 2000 years. Roman legionaries ate biscotti during their long campaigns, and Pliny the Elder believed that these crackers would remain edible many centuries later. Christopher Columbus took a large supply of biscotti on his expeditions, so they participated in the discovery of America. For many centuries, biscotti and their ancient Egyptian and Roman ancestors were the main way to preserve bread during long voyages and to feed a large army or merchant ship crew. For long expeditions, they began to prepare crackers six months in advance and baked them 4 times to completely dry them. After that they were not afraid of heat and cold, sea water, rain and mold. There is information that a sailor of the Spanish Armada in the 16th century received 450 g of crackers and beer every day to soak them.
Varieties of biscotti
The basic recipe, which was written down in the 19th century by the Italian confectioner Antonio Mattei, contained only 3 main ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs. Pine nuts and whole unshelled almonds were traditionally used as additives for biscotti. These simple almond biscotti are still made in the town of Prato in Tuscany. They are usually served after lunch, accompanied by freshly squeezed orange juice.
Nowadays there are many recipes for biscotti, and in every Italian cafe you can find several varieties to choose from. Cinnamon, anise, orange zest, pistachios, hazelnuts, seeds, fruits and dried fruits, chocolate pieces, various liqueurs and extracts are added to the biscotti dough. Biscotti are covered with chocolate and icing, so they look no less attractive than cakes.
In Italy, biscotti may also be called cantuccini or cantucci, which can be translated as “coffee bread.” The word cantucci also means crackers, but prepared according to a different recipe: from yeast dough or with the addition of sour ingredients. Cantucci is more airy, but also drier than biscotti. Such crackers are traditionally prepared in Sardinia and Sicily. The confusion began with pastry chef Antonio Mattei, whose sign had both names written on it. In addition to biscotti and cantuccini, in Italy there are also ordinary double-baked crackers - large, unsweetened, cooked in olive oil with spices. Italian biscotti or twice-baked have many relatives around the world: Spanish carcignoli, German zwiebeck, Jewish mandelbrod. And in America, the word “biscuit” does not mean a soft cake crust, but the same crispy biscotti.
What do you eat biscotti with?
No matter how tasty biscotti are, at their core they are hard crackers. Therefore, they are never served separately from drinks. In Italy, there is a whole ritual: relax after dinner with a glass of red wine, dipping biscotti or cantucci into it. In Catalonia, dessert wines - Muscat or Muscatel - are used for these purposes. Puddings are prepared from pieces of biscotti, soaked in milk and something sweet. Pieces of unsweetened biscotti are used to thicken soups and add them to meat stews, sauces and fillings. In France and the USA, biscotti are dipped in coffee, tea, milk or juice, and in South America You can find locals using the mate drink for this purpose.
Biscotti recipes
Classic almond biscotti
Ingredients:
280 g wheat flour,
130 g sugar,
100 g whole almonds,
50 g raisins,
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder,
1 tsp vanilla sugar,
1 pinch of salt
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Sift the flour, add salt, sugar and baking powder. Beat the eggs until fluffy, pour into the flour mixture and knead the dough. Add almonds and raisins, knead the dough with your hands again, divide into 3 parts and place them on a baking sheet. The dough will be sticky, so wash your hands and with wet hands form it into oblong loaves the entire width of the baking sheet. Bake the loaves for about 20 minutes until crust appears.
Slice the slightly cooled loaves diagonally into 1-1.5 cm pieces. To cut the almonds evenly, use a serrated knife. Place the biscotti on a baking sheet and return to the oven for 15-25 minutes, depending on the thickness and desired consistency. If you want biscotti with a soft center, bake for 15 minutes. For completely dry, crispy biscotti, increase the re-bake time to 25 minutes.
Apple biscotti
Ingredients:
400 g flour,
200 g sugar,
1 tsp baking powder,
1 tsp salt,
3 eggs + 1 yolk,
2 tsp cinnamon,
100 g fresh apples,
100 g raisins,
50 g walnuts
Preparation:
Beat eggs and yolk with sugar. Sift the flour, add baking powder and salt and gradually add this mixture to the eggs, continuing to beat at low speed. Cut the peeled apples into cubes, mix with raisins and chopped nuts and mix into the dough. Divide the dough into 2-3 parts, form them into logs, place on a baking sheet lined with paper and bake for 20-25 minutes at 170º. Once the bars have cooled completely, cut them into pieces about 1cm wide, sprinkle with water and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Apple biscotti does not last long because water remains in the apple pieces. It is advisable to eat them 1-2 days in advance.
Ginger biscotti
Ingredients:
2 cups flour,
0.5 cups sugar,
zest of 1 lemon,
1 tsp baking powder,
1 pinch of salt,
1 cup almonds,
0.3 cups fresh grated ginger root,
3 eggs
cinnamon, sugar for sprinkling
Preparation:
Mix sifted flour, sugar, zest, baking powder and salt. Beat the eggs, pour into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add ginger and almonds and stir again. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until no longer sticky. Divide the dough into 2-3 parts, form them into long loaves, place on a baking sheet lined with paper, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake for 15-25 minutes at 180º.
Cool the loaves on a wire rack. Cut them diagonally into slices about 1 cm wide, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Cool the biscotti completely before storing in a container.
Quick shortbread biscotti
Ingredients:
200 g butter,
1 glass of sugar,
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder,
3.5-4 cups flour,
1 tsp cinnamon
Preparation:
Melt the butter, mix with sugar, eggs and baking powder. Gradually add sifted flour until you obtain a dense, non-sticky dough. Roll out the dough into 3-4 sausages across the entire width of the baking sheet, sprinkle the top with cinnamon and bake on parchment for 15-20 minutes at 190ºC. Cool the pieces slightly, cut into slices 1.5-2 cm wide, place on a baking sheet and bake for another 10 minutes on each side. Cool the finished biscotti on a wire rack.
Orange biscotti covered in chocolate
Ingredients:
2 cups flour,
1 tsp baking powder,
0.5 tsp soda,
0.3 tsp salt,
0.5 cups sugar,
3 eggs
3 tbsp. honey,
2 tbsp. orange zest,
250 g chocolate.
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix sifted flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Beat eggs with sugar, add honey and zest, mix. Add flour mixture, stir thoroughly until smooth. Dust your hands with flour, divide the dough in half, place on a baking sheet and form into 2 long loaves. Bake them for 30-35 minutes, until golden color and cracks on top.
Cool the loaves completely and cut them with a bread knife into slices 1.5-2 cm wide. Place the crackers on a baking sheet and bake at 160ºC for another 15 minutes. Halfway through baking, turn the breadcrumbs over to the other side. While the finished crackers are cooling on a wire rack, melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove. Dip the top of each cracker into chocolate and place the crackers upright on the dry side so that the chocolate can drain freely. Once the chocolate has completely set, transfer the biscotti to an airtight container.
Simple and at the same time delicious dessert The biscotti are “twice baked” to dip their crisp barrels into dessert wine for an unrivaled combination of flavors.
Noble Italian “crackers” biscotti with nuts, dried fruits and pieces of chocolate got their sonorous name from the Latin word “biscotto” - “twice baked”. The name itself already reveals the method of preparing the dessert. Long logs are formed from dough with a sweet filling, baked until tender and cut into oblique thin slices to be returned to the oven to dry until golden brown and crispy.
Today, the culinary world of Italy is famous for its variety of biscotti recipes. Every Italian cafe welcomes guests with a wide selection of several varieties of crispy dessert. Depending on the filling, all types of biscotti have their own unique taste: citrus, anise, cinnamon, nut, fruit or chocolate. The classic biscotti recipe is not too strict for cooks and allows you to combine any flavors. The dessert only benefits from this and becomes almost original.
In Italy, biscotti is also called cantucci or cantuccini. But still, this is a slightly different type of “crackers”. They are prepared from yeast dough, although the baking technology is the same. Biscotti also has other unsweetened relatives. Thus, unleavened “twice-baked” croutons are prepared with spicy spices in olive oil and used to thicken soups, served with meat stews, sauces and fillings.
Biscotti: TOP 5 recipes
Recipe 1: Classic almond biscotti
Ingredients for 4 servings: 280 g flour, 100 g whole almonds, 130 g sugar, 3 eggs, 50 g raisins, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon each of baking powder and vanilla sugar.
- Saturate the flour with air through sifting, add baking powder, sugar, salt. For better mixing, all ingredients can be sifted together.
- Beat the eggs with a mixer until a thick, stable mass is formed, and carefully fold into the flour mixture. Knead the dough.
- While kneading, add raisins and almonds. Knead the dough so that the almonds and raisins are distributed evenly throughout the mass.
- Cut the sticky dough into three equal pieces, wet your hands and form them into long loaves. Place the bread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- For the first baking, future biscotti will need 175 °C and about 20 minutes. As soon as their color turns brown, the loaves can be taken out.
- Cool the bread slightly and cut it diagonally into oblong slices one and a half centimeters wide. Almonds in the dough will yield easily to a knife with a serrated blade.
- Return the future cookies to the baking sheet and bake for another 15-25 minutes. If you want the biscotti to still have a soft center and crispy edges, 15 minutes is enough. For completely dried and golden brown croutons, increase the baking time to 25 minutes.
Recipe 2: Chocolate biscotti with hazelnuts
Ingredients for 6 servings: 2.5 cups flour, cup hazelnuts, 4 eggs, 1.3 cups sugar, 0.5 cup cocoa powder, 1 tbsp. spoon of freshly ground coffee, 0.5 teaspoon of soda, ¾ teaspoon of baking powder, pinch of salt.
- Blanch the nuts in boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain through a colander and remove excess water from the nuts with paper towels.
- Pour the prepared hazelnuts into a mold and dry in the oven for 10 minutes at 175 degrees. When the nuts are browned and a characteristic smell appears, the hazelnuts can be removed. Rub the cooled nuts between your palms to remove the husks.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa and finely ground coffee into a large container.
- In another bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Separate 2 tbsp. spoons of egg mass, and add granulated sugar to the rest and continue beating until a “hat” forms.
- Combine the egg and flour mixtures and knead into an elastic dough.
- Pour the browned hazelnuts into the dough and knead it again, distributing the nuts evenly.
- Cut the dough into 2 equal parts. Dust your hands with flour and form two elongated loaves, transfer to a square pan with parchment. To make the loaves more golden brown, brush them with the reserved egg mixture. Bake until loaves are firm, about 15-20 minutes.
- Cool the baked goods slightly and cut with a knife with a sharp blade into oblique slices, centimeter thick. Return the biscotti to the oven for another quarter of an hour.
- Leave the dessert to “rest” for 18-24 hours, then pack it in an airtight container.
Recipe 3: Lemon biscotti from Yulia Vysotskaya
Ingredients for 7 servings: 400 g flour, 250 g granulated sugar, 3 eggs + 2 yolks, 2 lemons, 130 g almonds, 130 g pecans, 4 tbsp. spoons of butter, 1 tbsp. spoon of baking powder, 3 tbsp. spoons of buckwheat or corn flour.
- Prepare the preparations: beat two eggs and two yolks into a dense foam until the volume is doubled; melt 3 tablespoons butter; enrich flour and baking powder with air through a sieve; Grind half the nuts into crumbs; Scrape the zest from the lemons and extract the juice from half of one fruit.
- Knead the dough from: beaten eggs, chopped nuts, flour mixture, citrus zest and juice, butter, corn/buckwheat flour. You can knead the dough until smooth in a food processor, or in the traditional way - with your hands.
- Grease a flat biscotti baking dish with the remaining oil. Preheat the oven by setting the temperature to 180°C.
- Place the workpiece on a floured table and cut it into three identical pieces. Make an oblong ball from each part. Place all the breads on a baking sheet. They will bake for about 40 minutes.
- While still hot, cut the loaves into thin circles and place them again on a baking sheet to dry at the same temperature.
- When the tops of the Italian cookies are golden, remove the biscotti and set aside to cool completely.
Recipe 4: Appetizing biscotti with a mix of dried fruits and nuts
Ingredients for 5 servings: 250 g flour, 200 g granulated sugar, 3 eggs, 1.5 tbsp. spoons of baking powder, 50 g each of dates, dried apricots, peeled unsalted pistachios, peeled almonds, zest of one lemon.
- Saturate the flour with air by sifting, combine with granulated sugar and baking powder.
- Lightly foam the eggs and slowly pour them into the flour to knead into a firm but elastic dough.
- IN ready dough mix in finely chopped dried fruits: dried apricots and dates. Add nuts.
- Make two identical, long, slightly flattened loaves from the dough.
- Transfer the bread to a greased flat pan and place in the oven at 180°C. They will take 20-25 minutes to prepare.
- Cut the slightly cooled loaves diagonally into slices with walls 1 cm thick.
- Place the crackers back into the pan and place in the oven again, this time for a quarter of an hour. After 5-7 minutes, turn the biscotti over with the baked cut side down.
- Place the cooled Italian cookies into a hermetically sealed box.
Recipe 5: Biscotti with prosciutto and parmesan
Ingredients for 16 biscotti: 3 eggs, 70 g thin slices of prosciutto, 1.5 cups flour, cup grated Parmesan, 8 tbsp. tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 teaspoons black pepper, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.
- Beat the soft butter with a mixer until it becomes fluffy and snow-white.
- Continuing to beat, add all the eggs one by one. Add flour, Parmesan, chopped prosciutto, salt and freshly ground black pepper in portions. The dough should be homogeneous and elastic, but not tough.
- With wet hands, form loaves 30 cm long and 10 cm wide.
- Baking time in an oven heated to 180 °C is about half an hour.
- Allow the finished loaves to cool for 10 minutes and cut into slices diagonally 1 cm thick. Place the pieces on a baking sheet and place cut side up. Bake the biscotti again at an oven temperature of 135°C for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove the crackers from the oven, cool, and pack in a box.
Biscotti with prosciutto and parmesan go harmoniously with wines - rose and sparkling white. They will also be an ideal company for soups, Mediterranean and vegetable salads.
Every master of Italian baking has his own signature biscotti recipe. It turns out this way thanks to some simple secrets that will help us prepare our ideal biscotti.
- If you replace regular flour with confectionery flour, which contains less protein and, accordingly, a lower ability to form gluten, then the finished products will be more airy.
- To prevent biscotti made from regular flour from being overly rough and dense, you need to add a spoonful of rice to it. So bread flour the properties will be similar to those of a confectionery, and the finished dough will become more loose and soft.
- It is better to knead the dough with your hands to feel its consistency. It should be pliable, soft and not too dry. Excessively wet and sticky dough can be sprinkled with flour and its structure can be smoothed out.
- The main advantage of biscotti is its long shelf life. They slowly go stale and can be stored in a hermetically sealed container for up to three weeks. Therefore, such “crackers” can be prepared in large quantities for future use, pack it in a tin container and be always ready for the arrival of unexpected guests.
- If you disguise the humble appearance of biscotti with melted chocolate or icing, they will no longer look like crackers, but like gourmet cakes.
- In Italy, there is a tradition of packing homemade biscotti in a gift tin box and giving it to friends and family during the holidays.
Italian chefs invented biscotti as an appetizer for sweet wine. Since then, it is customary to serve dry dessert exclusively in the company of drinks - traditional coffee or tea, wine, milk, juice. In Italy, eating biscotti is a ritual. During siesta, Italians like to enjoy their relaxation with a glass of dessert wine, dipping crispy biscotti into it. Why don’t we adopt this wonderful tradition from them?
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