Quite Curious

est. Biscotti. Ever. I named the recipe this because the first reaction I hear from when people bite into it is, “This is the best biscotti I’ve ever had!” If you love almonds, you will fall head over heels with this cookie. If you’re not crazy about almonds, you soon will be.

I snagged this recipe from my mom, who received it from an old Italian friend of hers. Since then, we’ve been sharing the cookies and the recipes with everyone we know. This biscotti is much better than the bagged biscotti at cafes, which are days old, and skimp on the almonds. I wrote out the directions as best as I could from the scrawled notes from my mom’s friend (please comment if they aren’t clear!). For a more modern version, you can substitute with pistachios or other nuts. Just keep the Amaretto in there - that’s the magic stuff.

Since the cookie is surprisingly low in fat and super quick to make, I make them quite often (what else are you going to do with that huge bottle of Amaretto?) and I always end up eating two…or three…or five cookies at once. (shhh) You can dip the cookies in chocolate, although I think they taste great by themselves.

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Let’s Get Started

What I love so much about this biscotti recipe is how much almond flavor is infused into each bite. There’s two things that make this happen, almond extract and…

…Amaretto, which is a fragrant, almond-flavored liqueur made from almond and apricot pits. Once you add this into the batter, you’ll be eating it by the spoonful. It smells amazing.

Biscotti surprisingly doesn’t use a lot of butter, which of course, means you can eat a dozen of them at once.

This is important - you’ll need whole almonds, and lots of it. I bought a huge bag of them at Costco, as they can be expensive.

Mixing and Forming the Batter

Mixing the batter until it’s smooth and creamy.

It’s going to seem as though there are too many almonds in the batter, but not to worry. The dough will rise a bit in the oven.

Using a spatula (or a spoon, whatever), carefully spoon out the batter into two rows on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Tall and narrow rows are good, since they will expand horizontally in the oven. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but make sure you have at least two inches in between the rows…

…like this.

Twice Baked

after 5 minutes of baking

after 15 minutes of baking (bread!)

Finished cookie logs

Cut the cookie logs into strips after they’ve cooled down for a bit. I cut mine on a bias with a super sharp knife, since they’re fragile. Cutting them on a bias gives you longer pieces.

Turn them all over on the side and return it back into the oven to toast. You can user the residual heat from the first baking, or turn it on a low temperature. The goal is basically to dry out any moisture left in the centers.

They make great gifts, too :)

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