Interestingly enough, half-way through the process (before the second baking) they're excellent and make a nice sliced cookie (I ate the ends).
(I'll have a high-end photo shot tomorrow ... it's late and the biscotti is still cooling ... test results, too ... I wanted to get my initial photos and reactions from these amazing things up today)
Procedure
Fundamentally, one makes this like a cookie. That's all it really is. Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and almond extract well.
Whisk the dry goods together. Interestingly, this recipe includes a little corn meal.
Look at that gooey glob of goodness. I mixed just enough ... wanted to avoid making gluten. In bread, so good ... in cookies and similar ... so very bad.
I formed the dough into a pair of logs on a parchment-lined half-size baking sheet. This was messy. The dough loves to stick to everything.
Into the oven until it's golden brown ... oh, look at that. It's delicious already! I couldn't resist!
After the first run in the oven, our yummy biscotti gets sliced, diced, and lined up for more baking. Not too long, though, don't want them to by dry and nasty.
Just a twice-baked cookie that you form into a log, cook, let cool, slice up, and cook again.
Very, very easy. Very, very good!
Test Results
Primary Test Group: Really good! How do I say the name again?
More test groups tomorrow ... I have a meeting at which I'll see all three test group leaders, my new cookie client, and someone who might buy these for his new cafe.
Potential Improvements
Not sure how I'd improve the final product. But, I might chill the dough a bit before making logs to make it easier to work with.
Potential Variations
I'm thinking about making a batch and dipping half in bittersweet chocolate. Decadent, life-shortening, worth it.
Conclusions
Either all of the biscotti I've had in the past at trattorias and torrefaziones have been garbage. Or, I made these wrong.
They're the best I've ever had. Not even close.
9 comments:
I loved this recipe. Who knows? You may be starting a biscotti craze in the Philippines!
Yours seemed to rise really nicely. The next time, I'll cut mine on the bias to make longer biscotti. I saw a tip on a few blogs to use wet hands when forming the logs. The dough won't stick and the tops will be smooth. Great job on these; I'll look forward to the rest of the pictures. How exciting to have real cookie clients! And how fun to find such a pleasant surprise recipe - TWD is so good for that!
Nancy
Thanks! We forgot about pictures and ate all of the biscotti. I'll definitely make more of this SOON.
These were a pleasant surprise to me too! Glad your family liked them! And good luck on your possible baking job.
I am impressed. Yours really came out well. Mine spread almost flat. The taste was good, but the appearance was such a let-down. Well done.
I like your analysis at the end!
Dipping them in bittersweet chocolate was definitely life shortening... and definitely worth it! haha! Yours look gorgeous!
Your biscotti turned out beautiful...looks like you didn't have a problem with them spreading like so many of us did. There are so many flavor combos on the other TWD blog. Maybe you can use them for your new client!
Thanks everyone! I'm not sure why mine didn't spread so much. Possibly because I beat the eggs and cream hard.
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