I’ve become obsessed with Mediterranean foods and recipes lately—mostly prompted by my failed attempts to make a good Italian/French loaf. I mean, the bread was fine, but it wasn’t great, so in my quest to learn how to make a truly great loaf, I’ve fallen into a Mediterranean rabbit hole and gotten stuck in traditional Italian baking.

Which lead me to this recipe. I’ve made biscotti before, and really love it—there are so many flavor possibilities, and it’s an easy-to-make and easy-to-store cookie that has a really satisfying crunch. And when I came across this recipe in The Italian Baker*, I was intrigued. My other biscotti recipes all call for butter, but this one doesn’t. In fact, the only fat used in the recipe come from the eggs.

So, in the spirit of creating authentic Italian bakes (still working on the bread and will definitely be posting about it here), I had to try it.

I did have to make one adjustment, though. Perhaps it was because I didn’t weigh my ingredients, but there was not enough liquid in the recipe as written to create the correct dough. So while the recipe called for two egg yolks (in addition to three whole eggs), I ended up adding in the two leftover egg whites as well to make it all pull together into a workable dough.

As to how they turned out? They’re, uh, hard. Tasty, yes, but much harder than the ones I make with butter. However, as long as I have something to dip them into (which is the traditional Italian way of eating them, of course—dipped into coffee, tea, or wine) they’re perfectly delicious.

I do love that they’re a pretty plain cookie—perfect for when you’ve got a hankering for something just a little sweet and vanilla-y.

Traditional Italian Biscotti

An easy traditional Italian recipe for a satisfyingly crunchy biscotti.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Course: Dessert, Snack

Servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients

Volume - Weight

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped almonds
• 1 egg, beaten (for brushing over tops of biscotti logs)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F/177 C. Grease and flour two cookie sheets or line them with parchment.
  
• Pour flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into the bowl of your mixer, then add the vanilla and eggs. Run mixer until the dough starts to form. Add nuts, and continue to mix for a few minutes until the dough forms a ball on the paddle. (If dough is too sticky, add more flour as needed.)
  
• Divide the dough into four equal parts, then roll each part into a log about 2" wide and 1" high. Place two on each cookie sheet, at least two inches apart.
  
• Beat the last egg and brush it on top of the logs.
  
• Bake at 350 F/177 C for 30-35 minutes, until the logs are golden. Take them out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 F/160 C.
  
• When the logs are cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes), slice them diagonally with a serrated knife. Place the slices back on the cookie sheets, laid on their sides, and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
  
• Cool completely, and store in an airtight container.
  

Notes

Adapted from Biscotti di Prato in The Italian Baker by Carol Field.

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