February 13, 2008 - 6:31pm
biscotti - Quaresimali
I'm looking for a recipe for these. I've tried several published and on-line recipes I've found. The best of which are all egg, no butter. The least interesting are egg and butter. But as you see in the pics, I think these have a higher ratio or perhaps all egg whites to get this consistency. Once I get the texture, the flavor is kind of up to me.
The recipe I've been using is Nick Maglieri's and it's pretty good, but not quite what I'm looking for.
Anyone have one they'd care to share?
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I have not read the one given by Malgieri, so I have no idea if they are very similar or not. The ones I know are a type of cookie that is made in Florence.
The recipe is in grams.
300 g granulated sugar
50 g cocoa powder (unsweetened)
300 g toasted hazelnuts, ground very very fine
200 g blanched almonds, ground very very fine
1 extra-large egg white (or as needed)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
for the syrup: 400 g granulated sugar + 50 g water
In a food processor mix the ground nuts and the sugar until it forms a pasty mixture.
Beat the egg white very brielfy (it should only barely foam) and add it little by little to the mixture in the fod processor bowl, pulsing to incorporate it. Add enough egg white to have a mixture the consistency of dense pastry cream.
Meanwhile mix sugar and water to make the syrup, bring the mixture to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, Let it boil for about 3 minutes. Let it cool a bit and then add it in a thin stream to the nut mixture in the food processor, while the machin eis running, and process briefly to incorporate. Add the cocoa and vanilla and process until well incorporated. The final consistency of the dough should be such that when lifting some with a spoon and letting it falling back into the bowl it forms a "ribbon", similar to well made sponge cake batter. It should not be too firm or dry.
Preheat the oven to 400F, place the mixture in a pastry bag with a small tip and squeeze the batter to form S shaped cookies, well distanced from each other. Or you can shape other letters or numbers.
Let the cookies rest for about 2 hours in the refrigerator, then bake in the preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes (depending on the size and thickness). Cool on racks.
The finished cookie is rather crunchy.
I apologize for leaving the recipe in grams, and for not being more precise about the quantity of egg white, but that is something that has to be adjusted every time, depending on humidity etc. You might need to add more or less than I indicated.
Jack Bishop's "Italian Vegetarian Cookbook" has a great one listed as "Classic Almond Biscotti". I don't have the recipe on hand or I would post it. I've had great luck with it over the years and great comments from the eaters.
I have found t hat the sugar is part of the key. I tried using date sugar one time and it was a disaster. Sticking to plain old cane sugar gives the best results.