Recently I discovered magic and power of library system here. The minute I stepped into library I knew I am going to pick lot of books and variety of topics. I must have spent more than 5 hours that week just browsing through books and selecting what all I like. I got this book on the desserts and it had this recipe. First time I made, I tried word to word with few changes in ingredients but this time I changed the proportion of butter, maida as well. I loved how nice and crispy it turned out. We are now set for atleast a week of 4pm snacks :)
Ingredients
3/4 Cup Butter
2.25 Cup Sugar
6.25 Cup Maida
2 Spoon Baking Powder
2 Lemon's Zest
4 Eggs
1 Cup Almonds
1 Cup Pistachios
1 Cup Craisins
2 Spoon Fennel Seeds
1 Spoon Salt
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
- Beat butter and sugar together until combined, about a minute.
- Add in Maida, baking powder, salt and lemon zest and beat again till mixed well.
- Add in one egg at a time and beat till mixed well.
- Add in chopped almonds, pistachios, craisins and saunf and again mix well.
- Dust the flat surface with little bit of maida and pull out the mixture and knead and shape it into two 12 inch logs that are just over 1 inch in height.
- Line a baking pan with the parchment paper and transfer the logs into it.
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Pull the logs out of oven and let them cool down for around 10 minutes
- Using sharp knife, slice the log diagonally around 1/2 inch thick slice.
- Transfer the logs into pan with cut side facing up, bake at 350F for another 25 minutes.
- Let the biscotti cool and then transfer into the container.
Notes
I used almonds, pistachio and craisins but really you can use any nuts and dry fruits. In fact this time I forgot to add saunf but last time I made this, I had added it and it gave nice taste and everyone loved it :)
I used my kitchenaid standing mixer to beat in everything, as it was much easier that way than the hand mixer. But if you don't have it, you can use hand mixer too.