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.
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 :)
Makes approx. two dozen cookies
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
2 cups of whole almonds
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, almond extract, amaretto liqueur, baking powder, salt, and flour. Mix everything well until it forms a smooth, sticky batter. Gently fold in the almonds.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Make two long, 3-inch wide, flat rows of dough on the sheet pan, spaced two inches apart.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cookie rows turns golden brown.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven. Let the cookie rows cool for about 10 minutes then slice into 1 inch pieces with a sharp knife*. Turn the cookies over so they lay on the side.
Return the cookies back into the oven to dry out any moisture still in the cookies. You can use the residual heat from the first baking, or turn the oven on to a low temperature.
*Tip: Cut on a bias for longer pieces
mm looks great!
I can testify….it was GREAT! The best I have ever had.
Magaly and I just made this recipe. These are absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing Paula!
-K&M
@Kent Langley
I’m so glad you like it!
Just made these and they are freaking awesome!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You’re welcome, Barb! Glad they turned out well.
Do you use raw almonds or roasted almonds?
I use raw almonds because they toast up in the oven. Yum.
Wouldn’t it be better to use halved or sliced almonds? I can’t imagine using whole almonds.
I guess that would work too, but the almonds are easy to cut after the biscotti is baked and I love the chunkiness!
Definitely gonna give these atry but could you tell me how much is half a stick of butter – I’m guessing 125g
Cheers
I’m afraid I don’t know, either….
This is absolutely perfect recipe I am looking for…..guess what I have follow exactly what you told and now, I am enjoying it!!!
I just made these again last night. They’re always a treat!
Half a stick of butter is 1/4 cup.
I know this is a dumb question but, is there a good substitute for the liqueur? And have you ever gone chocolate with this reciope?
I actually don’t know what a good substitute for the liqueur is, because most of the flavor comes from the Amaretto. There’s a few brands making it, and it may be difficult to find in a supermarket. Your local liqueur store should have it. I hope that helps.
Yes, I’ve dipped biscotti in chocolate before but the cookies are so good by themselves that I usually just skip that step!
I’ve been wanting to make these for a while and your recipe was easy to follow. My dough was not bearly as ‘wet’ as your pictures, so I thought something was wrong there. I baked them the first time for 29 minutes..no luck, they still weren’t brown. I let them cool and sliced them but they crumbled because they were too moist still in the middle. Any ideas on what I could do to avoid this next time? They are very tasty and I definitely want to make them again. Thanks!
You’re totally right, it’s a very dry, sticky dough. It sounds like you need to bake the cookies a little longer in your oven so the middles cook – they should come out golden brown. Sometimes the middle of my cookies are soft too, but as long as they don’t crumble, I can flip them over to the side to bake the second time. That usually fixes the problem. I hope that helps.
YEP, these are as good as everyone said they were. YUM, I am going to dip some in chocolate too!!
Thanks, Kristen!
Can be made this without eggs and butter for vegans? How about “date sugar” instead of cane? Has anyone tried using more liqueur give stronger flavor? How about whole wheat flour for fiber?
I’m afraid that I haven’t tried anything that you mentioned, but I think there’s some worthy experimentation waiting for you!
The recipe calls for 1/2 stick of butter, but in order for it to be sticky like the picture, it needs to be 1/2 cup of butter, which is 1 stick of butter.
Glad so many others liked these. Our taste must be a little peculiar, because we found them too sweet and the texture too crumbly and cookie-ish, maybe because of the addition of the butter. I will definitely go back to my old eggs-only version.
Interesting! I’ve never heard of that, but that’s worth trying out.
I’m going to make these tonight. To be sure (because of the 12/15 post)…. is it 1/2 a stick or 1/2 a cup of butter?
I’m thinking 1/2 stick like your recipe states, but just want to make sure. They look awesome!