smell and taste of fresh-baked biscotti
that bring back to me the flood of childhood memories. Once again, I'm swept back in time to the dark little living room crowded with old furniture where, after a big pasta dinner, papa and Uncle Frankie would retire to smoke cigars and talk in hushed voices about "that other thing, you know that thing I'm talking about." It was biscotti that they liked to dip into their espresso and stregha as they discussed stuff "that has nothing to do with you, sweetheart."
Here is my own updated version of my Neapolitan grandma's classic recipe. It may not be entirely authentic, but it's easy-to-make and healthier, too: low-calorie, low-fat, and no one ends up stuffed into the trunk of a car left in a Jersey swamp.
First thing you gotta do is preheat the oven to 375. Then you take a cookie sheet and line it with some parchment paper—or spray it with a non-stick vegetable oil.
Next thing is to get out two bowls. In one bowl you beat together an egg, a half-cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of anise extract, and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Now what I do is to replace the sugar with Truvia, a special version of which they sell just for use in baking. In place of the vegetable oil, I use a quarter cup of applesauce instead and maybe one tablespoon of oil just to keep it honest.
In the second bowl, you sift together 1.5 cups or so of all-purpose flour and two teaspoons of baking powder. Then you mix the wet ingredients into the dry (or the dry into the wet), throw in some sliced almonds if you like and stir it all together with a wooden spoon until you get a rough, heavy, sticky dough.
Dump this dough out directly onto your prepared cookie sheet and, handling as little as possible and preferably with your wooden spoon, form the dough into a long loaf. Slide the cookie sheet into the oven for about 22 minutes.
22 minutes later you have a choice to make. You can cut the biscotti loaf into slices, lay these slices on their side, and rebake for another 3 to 5 minutes—first one side and then the other. This makes for a crispier, more traditional biscotti perfect for dunking. But because I don't like to dunk stuff and, more importantly, because the capo di tutti capi in the house, a.k.a. my husband, prefers a softer biscotti, I make an end to it here. I wait for the loaf to cool and sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar. You can always still dunk it soft if you like.
You can, as my husband's done here, also top your biscotti with fresh ricotta and strawberry jam. Almost whatever you do with it, fuhgeddaboutit, the result is yummy!
First thing you gotta do is preheat the oven to 375. Then you take a cookie sheet and line it with some parchment paper—or spray it with a non-stick vegetable oil.
Next thing is to get out two bowls. In one bowl you beat together an egg, a half-cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of anise extract, and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Now what I do is to replace the sugar with Truvia, a special version of which they sell just for use in baking. In place of the vegetable oil, I use a quarter cup of applesauce instead and maybe one tablespoon of oil just to keep it honest.
In the second bowl, you sift together 1.5 cups or so of all-purpose flour and two teaspoons of baking powder. Then you mix the wet ingredients into the dry (or the dry into the wet), throw in some sliced almonds if you like and stir it all together with a wooden spoon until you get a rough, heavy, sticky dough.
Dump this dough out directly onto your prepared cookie sheet and, handling as little as possible and preferably with your wooden spoon, form the dough into a long loaf. Slide the cookie sheet into the oven for about 22 minutes.
22 minutes later you have a choice to make. You can cut the biscotti loaf into slices, lay these slices on their side, and rebake for another 3 to 5 minutes—first one side and then the other. This makes for a crispier, more traditional biscotti perfect for dunking. But because I don't like to dunk stuff and, more importantly, because the capo di tutti capi in the house, a.k.a. my husband, prefers a softer biscotti, I make an end to it here. I wait for the loaf to cool and sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar. You can always still dunk it soft if you like.
You can, as my husband's done here, also top your biscotti with fresh ricotta and strawberry jam. Almost whatever you do with it, fuhgeddaboutit, the result is yummy!
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