16
Jan
I am now far away from my Italian paradise but I still think back to those marvellous days by the sea in the middle of winter, staying with lovely friends in the most beautiful house eating delicious food prepared lovingly by Bea, their charming cook who this time showed me how to make pasta and biscotti. Her first batch of biscotti in the picture above was the classic version with almonds but when she was preparing the second batch, I asked if she could use pine nuts. Not what she would have used normally but they are my favourite nut and Bea didn’t mind changing her recipe slightly.
Like pasta, biscotti are very simple to make and within the hour, you can produce the most delectable biscuits to serve with vin santo (another favourite) or of course with tea or coffee; and you will know what has gone into making them!
The first step is the only arduous part of the process because you have to whisk the eggs and sugar together for quite a while. Bea does this with a fork but it is easier done with a whisk or better still a kitchen aid.
Then, you gradually add the flour to have a very soft sticky dough to which you add the nuts and that is about it. There is no kneading involved and minimum shaping.
Once the nuts are well blended, you wet your hands with a little water (to stop the dough from sticking) and shape the dough into long sausages. Bea explained that I didn’t have to worry about how straight the sausages were when laid on the baking sheet because they are eventually going to be cut and the kinks will disappear. I guess I will be a little more careful but only because I am fastidious. You need to make sure to shape the sausages quite thinly though and not make them too fat because they will expand quite a bit during baking which is done twice to get them to harden completely.
And this is it: delicious biscotti con pinoli (shaped diferently in the picture below) with a glass of vin santo to celebrate the new year which is not so new any longer!
Biscotti di Bea
3 organic eggs, plus 3 egg yolks
250 g golden caster sugar
1 package instant yeast (I think this yeast is baking powder; it is definitely not easy bake yeast)
pinch sea salt
400 g flour tipo 00
150 g almonds (or pine nuts)
Preheat the oven to 200º C. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick sheet.
Put 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk in a mixing bowl and whisk well with the sugar until completely blended and fluffy — in Italian, Bea says montare bene.
Mix the yeast and salt with the flour and gradually add to the eggs and sugar mixture until you have a sticky dough. Add the nuts and mix well.
Moisten your hands with a little water. Pinch a handful of dough. Quickly shape into a long thin sausage and place on your baking sheet. Make the other sausages making sure you leave enough space between them on the baking sheet as they will expand. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Beat the other 2 egg yolks. Then when ready, take the biscotti out of the oven and brush with the egg yolks. Cut each stick on the slant into 2 1/2 cm/1 inch wide pieces and bake again for 10 minutes. You can also shape individual round biscotti like the ones in the picture above with the glass of vin santo. Both are delicious and the texture does not change with the different shape. Grazie Bea!
Tagged : bea, biscotti, making biscuits, vin santo
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There is 9 comments on this post
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January 18, 2012 at 5:32 am
grazie a te Anissas sono davvero felice di averti conosciuto un abbraccio Bea .PS si possono fare anche con gocce di cioccolato…baci
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January 18, 2012 at 7:04 am
ah si, le gocce di ciccolato! grazie bea who says you can also use chocolate chips to make chocolate biscotti 🙂
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January 18, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Lovely biscottis.
Will definitley try them with pine nuts. Do you think they would be good with anise seeds also?
I’ll let you know how they’ll turn out.
Have a great evening 🙂
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January 18, 2012 at 7:57 pm
yes, i think they would work with anise seeds. you just have to be careful not to use too many cos they can give a bitter taste. i make a great moroccan bread with anise and sesame seeds. look forward to hearing how they come out 🙂
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January 20, 2012 at 11:56 am
si credo che vanno bene anche i chip . Si possono fare anche con i semi di anice ,si fanno leggermente più grandi e si mette il burro si chiamano Anacioni. Provare per credere
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January 20, 2012 at 1:08 pm
abdallah, read bea’s comment re. anise seeds 🙂
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January 22, 2012 at 11:05 am
Grazie Bea. Seguirò le vostre istruzioni. Spero di trovare burro Anacioni in Libano. Lascerò Anissa e sai come saranno in pochi giorni! Ciao signore 🙂
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February 15, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Ciao Anissa come stai noi tutto ok . E nevicato tu vedessi che bello la neve sul mare . E allora caminetto e ponce alla Livornese.Se tu vorrai ti darò la ricetta e farà molto successo con i tuoi amici .Baci Beatrice
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February 16, 2012 at 1:49 am
grazie bea, con piacere. must have been very beautiful with the snow and the sea. xx