Biscotti Hottie

I drink a pot of tea every single afternoon in the winter. Tea time during the blessed hours of 2 and 3:30 pm is made even more spectacular with the pairing of biscotti. This time, I made my favorite- orange- minus the walnuts because there weren't any in my cupboard, which means I'm missing the nuttiness, but as you'll see as you scroll, I made up for it's absence handsomely.

It's all about the orange zest, peeps. Agh! I love it! I like to make a double batch. Biscotti is very easy to make, but you have to babysit it through several steps, so it's nice to get a lot done at once and store it in the freezer, taking out just what you want as you want it.

This is a Cook's Illustrated recipe, and if you sign up for their free trial, you can find it here. You can also find it here, conveniently right in front of you...

You'll Need:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup whole almonds with skins; toasted, cooled, and chopped coarse (I use diced walnuts)
1 large orange zested and minced to yield 2 tablespoons zest

Instructions
1. Sift first three ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar together in bowl of electric mixer until light and smooth; add eggs one at a time, then extracts. Stir in almonds and zest. Sift dry ingredients over egg mixture, then fold in until dough is just combined.
3. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Halve dough and turn each portion onto an oiled cookie sheet covered with parchment. Using floured hands, quickly stretch each portion of dough into a rough 13-by-2-inch log, placing them about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Pat each dough shape to smooth it.

Bake, turning pan once, until loaves are golden and just beginning to crack on top, about 35 minutes.
4. Cool the loaves for 10 minutes; lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Cut each loaf diagonally into 3/8-inch slices with a serrated knife.

Lay the slices about 1/2-inch apart on the cookie sheet, cut side up, and return them to the oven.

Bake, turning over each cookie halfway through baking, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Transfer biscotti to wire rack and cool completely.

And in the event that one of your favorite ingredients is MIA, find a suitable replacement...or in this case, this Hottie found a waaaaaaay suitable replacement that she never thought of adding to her biscotti before.So, these were pretty much awesome.It was critically acclaimed, and nicely paired with afternoon hot chocolate... and is still being enjoyed, thanks to that double batch...

Ah, biscotti- the tasty crunchy Italian cookie made to be dipped... I'm a proud Biscotti Hottie.