Almond Biscotti

Simple almond biscotti – I use cardamom (white cardamom in this case) to compliment the almonds.  Fennel seed works well too.

To use fresh cardamom, pull the husks off of 5 or 6 pods, and crush the little seeds from inside.

Pre-heat the oven to 375° F

Prep 2 sheet pans, with parchment.

1.0 Biscotti  

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups       ________________ All-Purpose Flour~375 grams
• 1 Cup  ________________ Sugar
• 1 tsp   ________________ Baking Powder (aka BP)
• 3     ________________ eggs
• 1 tsp    ________________ orange zest
• ¹⁄₄ Cup   ________________ Grapefruit Juice (or orange juice)
• ¹⁄₄ Cup   ________________ olive oil
• ¹⁄₄ tsp   ________________ almond extract
• ¹⁄₄ tsp   ________________ ground white cardamom
• 1 tsp   ________________ vanilla
• ¹⁄₂ tsp  ________________ salt
• 1 ¹⁄₂Cups  ________________ almonds (toasted)

Instructions:

• Whisk together Flour & BP
• Crack eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer (you can do this by hand, but it is hard to mix)
• With the paddle attachment, mix in the sugar
• Add the juices, zest, oil, cardamom, vanilla and almond extract, and salt
• Add in the flour & BP – mix until it is smooth (it takes a little while, so go deal with the almonds)
• Check the dough to see how liquid it is – add a little more flour if it doesn’t hold some shape.
• Mix in the almonds.
• Scoop half the dough out, and form it into a log on one of the sheet pans.  (Add a little more flour if it starts to ooze)
• Form a log with the other half of the dough on the second sheet pan.
• Brush the tops with egg whites, and sprinkle with sugar (optional)
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven, and cool to a temperature you can handle it – at least 5 minutes.
• Move to a cutting board, and using a serrated bread knife, cut into ¹⁄₂ inch pieces, on a diagonal.
• Drop the oven temperature to 375°
• Arrange on the sheet pans, on their sides, and return to the oven for 15 minutes.
• Flip the pieces and bake for another 15 minutes.
• They should be dry and crunchy.

These keep for a long time in a cookie jar, and they get better after a few days.