Ultimate Biscotti: 75 Sweet, Savory & Gluten-Free Recipes

By Trish Lobenfeld

While researching biscotti recipes, I was surprised by the limited and repetitive flavor profiles and challenged myself to create a broader assortment of recipes. The result is this comprehensive book with 75 recipes for sweet, savory, and gluten-free biscotti, including Ancho Chili Chocolate, Carrot Cake, S’mores, Red Velvet, Nutella, and Peppermint, as well as savory flavors like Falafel, Pizza and Porcini Rosemary.

The three most important things I learned that ultimately led to my success in making great biscotti are proper cooking time, enough cooling time, and slicing on the diagonal using a very sharp knife. Excellent ingredients, fine chocolate; pure extracts fresh eggs; kosher salt; good-quality dried fruit; whole raw nuts; and good-quality flours and grains, contribute excellent flavor and texture. These biscotti are great for snacks, desserts, and pack well for lunches and travel. The savory biscotti are a great addition to any bread basket or charcuterie platter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781546271383

Trish Lobenfeld

Trish Lobenfeld has been teaching people how to cook for over 20 years. She writes about food at honeypiesrecipes.com and has a tutorial YouTube channel, Honeypie’s Recipes®. She is also the author of Endless Summer: 54 Quick and Creative Ice Cream and Dessert Recipes and a children’s book, Scrambled Eggs. She has a culinary degree from the Institute of Culinary Education and a Masters in Food Studies from New York University, where she taught in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies for ten years and oversaw the hands-on food lab and courses. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and a Certified Culinary Professional, a designation awarded to members of IACP who have demonstrated and maintain comprehensive knowledge of the culinary arts and sciences. Trish lives in Connecticut with her husband, Eric, and their dog, Roxie Rae. She loves to entertain, swim, hike, travel and read.

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Published by AuthorHouse 03/30/2019

ISBN: 978-1-5462-7137-6 (sc)

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To Mom and Dad.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 THE HOW-TOS OF MAKING BISCOTTI

CHAPTER 2 TOOLS & INGREDIENTS

CHAPTER 3 CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI

CHAPTER 4 NUTTY BISCOTTI

CHAPTER 5 SAVORY BISCOTTI

CHAPTER 6 GLUTEN-FREE BISCOTTI

CHAPTER 7 NUT-FREE BISCOTTI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

RESOURCES

ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF RECIPES

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INTRODUCTION

I love biscotti. That crisp first bite, the contrast of bitter and sweet in a good dark chocolate, or the crunch of nuts. For years, I occasionally attempted to make them—with abysmal results. The biscotti crumbled every time I sliced them, and I gave up. One day, I decided that this was ridiculous, and a little embarrassing: I’m a culinary school graduate—how hard could it be to make biscotti? So, I watched videos. I researched a bunch of recipes in books and on blogs. And finally perfected my technique in the kitchen; success was mine! Once I mastered that first batch, I was hooked.

What Are Biscotti?

The word biscotti means twice baked. The first bake sets the loaf, and after cooling and slicing it, the second bake dries the individual biscotto into a crispy treat. The original version of what we are now familiar with was not so appealing. The biscotti were flat, very dry, and hard—really, really hard. The primary purpose of these early twice-baked versions was sustenance. They were portable and long lasting, thus easy to take on lengthy trips. My research indicates that some versions lasted a year on land with no noticeable deterioration and a little less on the open seas, due to animal and bug infestations.

Prior to the Industrial Age, travelers and military troops didn’t have many food resources for long journeys. Fresh foods were consumed first, and since there were rarely places to restock, especially for those at sea, a good standby was needed, and these baked goods filled the bill. To eat them, however, they needed to be dipped into hot tea or a warm gruel; my impression is they gnawed on them similar to a teething baby!

These twice-baked treats are not unique to Italy. There are many versions and names: the English called them hardtack, which seems to be the original version described above. The Jewish bake mandelbrot, the Dutch rusk, the Germans zwieback, and the Greek paximadia.

Fortunately, after the Industrial Age and the introduction of canned and frozen foods, the bland, hard, flat cake wasn’t discarded, but turned into a delightful, tasty treat with sugar, flavorings, nuts, dried fruit, and/or chocolate. Enjoy them any time of the day. Biscotti and a latte for breakfast, biscotti and tea in the afternoon, or biscotti and a glass of sweet wine, such as vin santo, in the evening. They partner nicely with ice cream, gelato, or sorbet. Crush them and sprinkle the crumbs over puddings or use them to make a crumb crust. And remember, they’re still portable, so take a few with you on your daily travels.

Notes on Ingredients and Flavors

The recipes I read during my research contained quite a bit of sugar, at least a cup in most cases, with a similar amount of flour. I wanted a less sweet cookie and settled on 2/3 cup, which provides just the right amount of sweetness and good texture. I use other sweeteners, such as honey and maple syrup, on occasion, but usually favor sugar, which helps maintain structure.

Salt is another important component of taste and I opted for 1 teaspoon kosher salt for most recipes. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt, iodine-free, and readily available in any grocery store. Please note, however, that kosher salt grains are larger than table salt; if you use ordinary table salt, reduce the amount to one-half the measure of the kosher salt. I add the salt during the liquid stage: this ensures it’s thoroughly dissolved before I form the log of dough, so there are no salty pockets in the biscotti.

I was surprised at the similarity of flavor profiles in the recipes I found when I was doing my research. Mostly I saw anise, almond, some dried fruit, and, of course, chocolate, whether inside the cookie or dipped on the outside. I wondered about other flavors and challenged myself to come up with twenty-five recipes. Discussing the project with others, I learned how much they liked biscotti and the idea of different flavors. Many of the ideas for my recipes came from these conversations, such as Carrot Cake, Ancho Chili Chocolate, and Pumpkin Chocolate Biscotti.

By the time I had developed twenty-five recipes, I knew there were other flavors yet to be tackled. Thanks to the Internet, I found many interesting extracts available from a number of vendors (see Resources on page 128 for other options) that complement dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate, and helped broaden the number of recipes I was able to create.

I have purchased pounds and pounds of chocolate throughout this process and learned an interesting fact about chocolate bars. Their size varies depending on whether they’re sold in the candy aisle or the baking aisle. The candy-aisle (or tasting) bars weigh 3 1/2 ounces, and those in the baking aisle (baking bars) weigh in at 4 ounces. I prefer Lindt EXCELLENCE chocolate, which is sold in the candy aisle. Lindt produces four types of dark chocolate: 70 percent cocoa, 78 percent cocoa, 85 percent cocoa, and 90 percent cocoa, which gives you plenty of opportunity to make a chocolate impact, sometimes by combining two different cocoa percentages in one recipe.

Baking chocolates, such as Ghirardelli, a 4-ounce bar, and Baker’s, which comes in eight 1-ounce squares per box, are sold in the baking aisle. Specialty baking chocolates, such as Scharffen Berger, Callebaut, and Valrhona, are sold at specialty stores or online, and all come in larger bars or in bags of small chocolate drops about the size of a coffee bean. Because of the slight discrepancy (1/2 ounce) between the readily available Lindt, Ghiradelli, and Baker’s chocolates, my recipes call for either 3 1/2 to 4 or 7-to-8 ounces of chocolate. I’ve used all three brands and it makes no difference to the outcome, so choose your favorite and enjoy!

Savory Biscotti

After making many, many batches of sweet biscotti, I began to experiment with savory ingredients. Those biscotti were challenging because of a high percentage of fat in some ingredients, such as cheese, and because of the lack of sugar, which helps with structure and makes the biscotti crisp. Their texture is definitely different from the sweet biscotti; the savory versions are softer, and some have a little crunch while others are delicate. Not all of my taste testers cared for them; they couldn’t get past the idea that they weren’t sweet or hard. Others caught on quickly and had them with soup for lunch, put them out for dinner in lieu of rolls, or used them for a cheese platter. Serve them as hors d’oeuvres with thinly sliced cheese or pâté on top, or with a spread like hummus or pesto. They make great accompaniments to an aperitif. Like bread fresh out of the oven, they have a heady aroma and taste even better warm, so they are best when lightly reheated.

Gluten-Free Biscotti—Does It Really Work?

The gluten-free idea came about when I realized I have a few friends who either suffer from celiac disease or have a low tolerance for gluten, which led me to experiment with gluten-free flour. This was a challenge; the absence of gluten increases the chances of the biscotti breaking and crumbling. I persisted with the encouragement of these friends, who are desperate for quality, good-tasting, gluten-free treats. I knew the flavors were good and continued to work on the texture until I had eleven delicious recipes.

You can combine flours to come up with your own mix, but I thought that a bit complicated and didn’t think you would want to go that route. There are a lot of gluten-free product flour blends available. King Arthur makes a gluten-free multipurpose flour, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free One-to-One Mix. See Resources on page 128 to find vendors.

To compensate for the loss of gluten in the flour, a gum or gums are added to stabilize the dough. Two gums are recommended for this type of baking: guar gum and xanthan gum. Without using one or both, in my experience, the log easily crumbles into pieces. My research shows that using half guar gum and half xanthan gum provides the best results. A 1/4 teaspoon each per cup of flour is sufficient.

Guar gum comes from the seed of a legume, the guar plant. It’s a thickening agent with a high-fiber content. Too much of this gum, however, produces a stringy dough. Xanthan gum is a by-product of corn used as a thickener. Too much xanthan gum in a recipe may add an unappealing gumminess to the dough, so measure carefully.

I found the flavor in the gluten-free biscotti to be excellent. Working with the dough is very similar to the process in the all-purpose flour recipes; structure is the variable, however. I use fewer fillings in the gluten-free recipes to avoid too many pieces getting in the way of keeping the dough connected. There is no guarantee, even with regular biscotti, that a biscotto or two won’t break, but the chances of it happening are more so with gluten-free versions. The real key—and a shout-out to Shauna Ahern at Gluten-Free Girl (glutenfreegirl.com) for passing along this information—is to let the biscotti sit until cold. I found two hours to be sufficient, though Shauna did recommend overnight; I just don’t have the patience. Waiting the extra time reaps excellent rewards, as the biscotti hold together as well as those made with wheat flour.

Ultimately, I ended up with seventy-five recipes and the ability to make biscotti in my sleep. Ironically, I didn’t take pastry and baking in culinary school. I never intended to be a baker, and now here I am with a book on biscotti! I hope you enjoy it and I’d love to hear your comments!

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CHAPTER 1 THE HOW-TOS OF MAKING BISCOTTI

The three most important things I learned that ultimately led to my success in making great biscotti are proper cooking time, enough cooling time, and slicing on the diagonal using a very, very sharp, (preferably serrated) knife. Also, using good ingredients—fine chocolate; pure extracts (of which there are numerous flavors and vendors); fresh, large, grade A eggs; kosher salt; good-quality dried fruit; whole unroasted nuts; and good-quality flours and grains—contributes to excellent flavor and texture.

In this section I’ll take you through the steps one by one. The method for making biscotti is pretty straightforward. Make the dough, form it into a ball, then use your hands to roll it into an 18-by-2-inch log. Cut the log in half, place both halves on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet and straighten them, flatten both slightly with the heel of your hand to about ½-inch thickness, brush with an egg wash, and bake the logs until firm, about 25 minutes. Cool the logs, slice them on an angle into 1/2-inch thick biscotto, lay each on its side, and bake for another 12 minutes, turn the biscotti over and bake another 10 minutes. Finally, cool your treats, dip or drizzle them in melted chocolate if called for in the recipe, and store them in an airtight container.

Getting Started

Toasting Nuts