Cornmeal with Rosemary and Parmigiano Biscotti

There’s a lot to love about biscotti. You can go a very traditional route with them or veer off into all sorts of creative directions. For Christmas this past year, I got creative by baking big, mocha latte biscotti with chocolate chips in them that got drizzled with a white chocolate-espresso glaze. I’ve also made a peanut butter version and some that were fully dipped in chocolate. But, I’m also a big fan of the more proper, Italian almond cantucci that are subtly sweet, nutty, and all about the crunch. When visiting our friends who had just returned from a trip to Florence, they served us almond cantucci with Vin Santo for an after dinner treat. That combination proves that sometimes simple is most definitely better. And, the wonderful thing about Ciao Biscotti, the new book from Domenica Marchetti, is that it covers the full spectrum of biscotti making. I received a review copy of the book. The recipes begin with more traditional, nutty versions and one that even has Vin Santo in the dough. And, then there is a series of chocolate options including one that it is half lemon and half chocolate. There are dried fruit-filled flavors and suggestions for glazing and topping the cookies. Among the Fantasy Flavors, there’s even a Green Tea with White Chocolate Glaze. Next, you’ll find the chapter for The Savory Side. I’ve baked a lot of different kinds of biscotti, but I had never tried a savory one. I couldn’t wait. Mountain Gorgonzola with Walnuts, Pepper Jack and Green Peppercorn, and Sun-Dried Tomato and Fennel all sounded delicious, but I stopped everything to bake the Cornmeal with Rosemary and Parmigiano. The first few times I ever made biscotti, I had anxiety about cutting the slender cookies and how long to bake them for the second bake. I now realize that the issue was that I was following recipes that weren’t well-conceived. The instructions in this book are clear; there are clues for what to look for at each stage; and the baking times are specific for the type of biscotti being made. 

For these crunchy, savory cookies, you begin by combining flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a mixer. I used a local, heirloom variety of cornmeal from Richardson Farms. The dry ingredients were mixed briefly to combine. Next, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, sliced toasted almonds, and chopped rosemary were added and mixed. Small chunks of butter, beaten eggs, and milk were added last, and the dough was turned out onto a board. It was divided into two pieces that were each formed into a long loaf shape. The goal is to end up with small biscotti, so the dough loaves were stretched long and kept narrow. The dough was brushed with egg before it was baked at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes. After the first bake, the loaves were left to cool for about 20 minutes before being cut into pieces. For this recipe, the cookies were cut to a thickness of about one-third inch. For the second bake, you can place the cookies cut-side-down and bake for 20 minutes, turn them over, and bake for another 20 minutes. Or, another tip I learned from Alice Medrich is to stand the biscotti on edge so both cut sides are exposed to the heat of the oven, and bake for the full 35 – 40 minutes rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. If you want to check the crunchiness of the biscotti to decide if they should bake longer, you’ll need to remove one and let it cool before tasting. They get crunchier as they cool. 

The parmesan and rosemary smelled fantastic as the biscotti baked. I imagined several ways to use them like for dipping into a bowl of minestrone or topping a salad with them. But, the suggestion in the book for serving them with Chianti Classico was a perfect pre-dinner nibble with wine. I’m delighted to see the world of biscotti get a little bigger with the addition of a savory side. 

Cornmeal with Rosemary and Parmigiano 
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from Ciao Biscotti. 

1 Tbsp vegetable oil 
1 1⁄2 cups/185 g unbleached all-purpose flour 
1⁄2 cup/70 g fine cornmeal 
1 tsp baking powder 
1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt 
1 cup/80 g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 
1 cup/100 g sliced almonds, toasted 
1 Tbsp finely minced fresh rosemary
6 Tbsp/85 g unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2-in/12-mm pieces, at cool room temperature 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten 
2 to 4 Tbsp half-and-half or milk 

Makes about 50 biscotti 

Fine-ground cornmeal adds a delicate crunch and pretty golden hue to these rosemary-infused biscotti. Slice these thinly and serve them with a nice runny cheese.  

Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly coat an 11-by-17-in/28-by-43-cm rimmed baking sheet with the oil. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly on low speed. Add the cheese, almonds, and rosemary and mix to combine. Add the butter in pieces and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture looks like damp sand. Set aside 1 Tbsp of the beaten eggs. Combine the remaining eggs with 2 Tbsp half-and-half and pour into the mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until a soft, slightly sticky dough has formed. Add the remaining half-and-half if necessary to make the dough come together. 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a disk. Divide it in half. Lightly moisten your hands with water and gently roll one portion of dough into a rough oval. Place it lengthwise on one half of the baking sheet and use your hands and fingers to stretch and pat the dough into a log about 2 1/2 in/6 cm wide and 12 in/30 cm long. Shape the second piece of dough in the same way, moistening your hands as necessary. Press down on the logs to flatten them out a bit and make the tops even. Brush the reserved egg over the tops of the logs. 

Bake the logs for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are lightly browned and just set—they should be springy to the touch and there should be cracks on the surface.
Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack. Gently slide an offset spatula under each log to loosen it from the baking sheet. Let the logs cool for 5 minutes, and then transfer them to the rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F/150°C. 

Transfer the cooled logs to a cutting board and, using a Santoku knife or a serrated bread knife, cut them on the diagonal into 1/3-in-/8-mm-thick slices. Arrange the slices, cut-side up, on the baking sheet (in batches if necessary) and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until they are crisp and golden. Transfer the slices to the rack to cool completely. The biscotti will keep for up to 10 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature. 

What to drink: Chianti Classico. 

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Breakfast Biscotti

Last week, I mentioned that I was baking for the Austin Bakes for Japan bake sale which was held on Saturday. As I wrote about that, I hoped there would be a good turnout, I hoped we’d have a lot to offer at each sale location, and I really hoped the fundraising would be a success. All of those things happened and exceeded our highest hopes. There were beautiful baked goods overflowing the tables at all five locations of the sale, and people kept coming to visit the sales, choose treats to take home with them, and leave behind donations. The positive response and generosity of the community were stunning. Kathryn was our leader of the efforts to organize this event, and all of her hard work resulted in the bake sale going perfectly. The other team leaders who helped with planning as well as overseeing bake sale locations were Carly, Rachelle, Shelley, and Stephanie. As of the end of Saturday, the fund raising total was over $11,400, and because the online giving page is still active, the total is now over $11,700. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this event and for all the wonderful generosity.

So, this being a bake sale, I had a perfect excuse to pull out some recipes and bake several things in a couple of days. Timing was an issue since I couldn’t bake everything at the very last minute, and that’s how I decided on biscotti for one item. They’re cookies that last well, so I baked them two days before the sale. I remembered there were several good biscotti versions in Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, and that’s where I found this recipe. As with all the recipes in this book, this one included an upgrade option for tweaking the main ingredients. It’s a kind of healthy type of biscotti with whole wheat pastry flour, oats, walnuts, and dried fruit, and the upgrade was the addition of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, and flaxseed meal. There were also additionl tips and an overview of biscotti making. For instance, in the US we have adopted biscotti and made it our own. So while the traditional Italian biscotti or cantucci are very dry and crunchy and usually flavored with anise, our American biscotti are slightly cakey in comparison with lots of additional flavors.

This breakfast biscotti recipe is of the American style, and this was an easy cookie dough to prepare since everything was just whisked and then stirred together. All purpose flour was combined with whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, brown sugar and oats were mixed. Then, milk and butter were heated until the butter melted, and that was added to the oat mixture and left to stand for a few minutes. Eggs and vanilla were added followed by the flour mixture, and then I added toasted chopped walnuts, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, and flaxseed meal. The dough was transferred to a silpat-lined baking sheet, and using wet hands, I formed it into a long, rectangular shape, not too wide. By using wet hands to shape the dough, it will become shiny as it bakes. I needed the biscotti to fit into the cellophane bags I had already bought, so I made the shape about four inches wide. The first baking was at 325 degrees F for about 35 minutes. The pan was removed from the oven and left to cool, and the oven was turned down to 300 degrees F. Once cool enough to handle, the baked dough was transferred to a cutting board and cut into half inch or so slices. The slices were set on a baking sheet, on their edges, and the second baking was for 25 minutes. I always worry biscotti might not be completely crunchy, so I moved the cookies around on the sheet and gave them five more minutes in the oven just to be sure.

My biscotti anxiety exists because I’ve tried a few recipes in the past that just didn’t work quite right, but there was no need to worry here since this came from Alice Medrich. Her tips such as using wet hands to shape the dough and standing the cookies on their edges for the second baking as well as the timing and ingredients all worked very well. The biscotti were deliciously crunchy and the nuts and seeds added to that effect. Since I packed them all up for the bake sale, I’m going to have to make another batch just to enjoy at home.

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Whole Wheat Lemon Almond Biscotti

I can’t believe there are zero posts about biscotti on my site. Well, now there is finally one, but more than two years went by without any biscotti posts. I should explain that biscotti are kind of like scones to me. I’ve admitted that I try almost every scone recipe I ever see, four of which I’ve posted on this site, and I have the same issue with biscotti recipes although I’ve neglected to mention them. The difference is that I seem to encounter more failures with biscotti. I’ve tried recipes that resulted in cookies that were too large and unwieldy, or the add-ins were too difficult to slice through and the cookies were ugly, or the cookies didn’t bake evenly and were too dark on one side. I’ve learned that the initially baked dough logs shouldn’t be too large. Two to three inches wide seems to work best. Then, once the individual cookies are cut, they should be flipped at the half-way point in their baking time. That way, the cookies don’t brown too much on one side and not enough on the other. I’ve also read that some people have success with baking the cookies on their edges rather than flat on a cut side, but I haven’t tried that. Regarding the slicing issue, I now let the dough cool a little longer after the first baking and before slicing, and I always use a serrated knife. With these lessons in mind, I tried a biscotti recipe I’d seen in the December 2009 issue of Living, and these turned out great.

Whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder were sifted together and set aside. Butter was mixed with sugar, honey, lemon zest, and salt, and three eggs were added one at a time. Nice, big measures, one whole tablespoon each, of vanilla and almond extract were added, and that’s why these biscotti smelled so amazing as they baked. Then, the flour mixture was added followed by almonds. I used a mix of whole almonds and sliced almonds because I was in pantry-clearing mode. The dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled for an hour. It was then divided in half, formed into two logs, of appropriate size of course, the logs were placed on a silpat-lined baking sheet, and they were chilled for 30 minutes. The first baking was at 325 degrees F for 35 minutes. Then, the dough logs were allowed to cool enough to handle before they were cut on the bias into cookies. I placed the cut cookies on two baking sheets, and they were baked this time at 300 degrees F for 35 minutes. After about 18 minutes, I flipped each cookie for even browning.

The extracts, lemon zest, almonds, and honey worked together to make these biscotti incredibly fragrant and delicious. They were packed into an airtight container, and each time I opened it, I was struck by how great these cookies smelled. Of course, they were enjoyed dipped in coffee or cappuccino, and I liked them with tea as well. They were crunchy as can be and a definite success in my hit-or-miss history of biscotti making.

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