Sweet Sunday – Hazelnut Biscotti

Yes, yes, yes! Sweet Sunday is finally back! Oh, how I have been slacking on this day…

But I return with this gorgeous recipe for Hazelnut Biscotti. A classic Italian cookie. This particular recipe incorporates marsala in the dough, so if you do not like that, or need something children proof, just substitute it with vanilla extract. As far as the hazelnuts go, if you leave them out, the cookie will be just as delicious. Or you could replace them with almonds, if you prefer those. The possibilities are endless.

So I roughly chopped the hazelnuts, this gives the biscotti some extra crunch, and you get a good taste of the hazelnut. You could always chop them finer than this, but the taste might get a bit lost.

The final dough should look like the photo below. It is quite a wet dough, yet it’s still very firm. You could always add more flour if you suspect that the dough is too wet.

The dough has to be kneaded shortly to ensure that it sticks together. Then, it has to be divided and formed into two seperate logs.

After the first 20 minutes in the oven, the logs will have a golden crust but they will still be slightly soft in the middle. That’s why the logs have to be sliced, to create the actual form of the biscotti. By placing them on their side, you’ll bake the cookie all around.

The several baking stages will result in dried cookies that have an intense flavour and an enormous crunch.

Easy to make on a Sunday afternoon, right?

Hazelnut Biscotti

Servings: 35 cookies
Time: 50 min
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

50 grams (2 oz) of butter
100 grams (3 and 1/2 oz) of skinned hazelnuts
225 grams (8 oz) of self-raising flour
100 grams (3 and 1/2 oz) of caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp marsala

Used kitchen appliances

Sauce pan
Oven
1 large mixing bowl
1 medium mixing bowl
Baking tray
Baking foil

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180C or . Place a sheet of baking foil on the baking tray.
Melt the butter in the saucepan on a low heat.
Roughly chop the hazelnuts.
Pour the flour in the large mixing bowl through a sieve. Add the chopped hazelnuts and the caster sugar. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined.
In the medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the marsala and melted butter.
Slowly pour the egg mixture in the middle of the flour, and mix by using a fork.
Proceed to form a coherent dough by using your hands. If the dough is too wet, add some regular flour.
On a floured surface, divide the dough into two. Roll each part out until it’s about 20 cm (7.9 inches) long and 5 cm (2 inches) wide.
Place the two dough logs on the baking tray, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the logs from the oven. Let them cool for a bit, then slice the logs in slices of about 2 cm (0.8 inches). This is the actual shape that the biscotti will take on. Lay the biscotti on the unbaked side.
Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
Flip the biscotti over, and bake for the final 5 minutes.