Almond Biscotti

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 20
• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons anise seeds
• 1 3/4 cups of raw almonds or 1 3/4 cups hazelnuts or 1 3/4 cups pine nuts, roasted in your oven until golden brown,chopped into big chunks

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350.
• 2 pour the flours into a big bowl and make a well in the center large enough to place the sugar, 3 of the 4 eggs, the 2 egg yolks, the baking powder, salt, vanilla and anise seed.
• 3 gently knead the dough for 5 minutes, this is a hard dough so it needs to be convinced to gather together (i have used my kitchen-aid mixer with the dough hook with good results).
• 4 slowly add the nuts (almonds are my favorite) and keep on kneading until well incorporated, you may need some additional flour to keep it from sticking to the bowl.
• 5 butter and flour 2 cookie sheets that are at least 15 inches, divide the dough into 4 even pieces and roll each one into a log, place the logs well apart, 2 to each sheet,.
• 6 beat with the remaining egg and brush the top of the logs with egg.
• 7 bake the biscotti loaves for 35 minutes.
• 8 remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325.
• 9 slice the biscotti and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes of baking time, cool on racks.
• 10 variations: melt a couple of bars of gianduia chocolate or any italian chocolate with nuts or praline in it, melt in a double boiler with a teapsoon of vegetable shortening, dip half the biscotti into the chocolate and put it on a cooling rack until the chocolate hardens.