I ate (and made) many different kinds of biscotti all my life, but there is something about this one that takes biscotti to a new, higher level for my taste. I think it is the rather simplicity of it, and the freshness brought by lemon-lime-orange zest combo and of course, the equally zestful Sambuca, Italian herb liqueur. I saw a similar recipe in Italian Food Safari on SBS a few months ago, and working on it a few times, I made my own version of it.

 

 

Biscotti is one of the simplest biscuits you can make. Seriously, the dough is very easy and fast to make – the whole thing does not take more than 10 minutes. Then you bake the dough once, take it out, let it cool, cut in pieces and bake twice more for each sides. That’s it. I also like to have the dough rest in the fridge for a short while.

 

 

 

Biscotti is a very crunchy and dry biscuit. It is great with coffee & tea – whichever you like, you take a cup of it and then dip the biscottis in it… mmmm, yummmmm… Another thing I like about this biscotti in particular is the colour. Pistachios bring a fresh green colour when you cut the dough into slices. It is so hard not to eat all of it as the smell and colour of pistachios enchant you…

 

 

So, here is a delicious addition to your next coffee or tea pleasure. If you want to have another biscotti recipe with chocolate, you might also want to check this one: Biscotti with chocolate chunks.

 

Enjoy!
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: ★☆☆ (Easy)
(makes about 20 biscottis)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

2 eggs
135 gr. / 1.6 dl / 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar, if you can’t find vanilla extract)
1 tbsp Sambuca
230 gr. / 4.2 dl / 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon, 1 lime and 1 orange
100 gr. shelled and unsalted pistachios (I don’t chop them at all, but if you want and have the patience, you can coarsely chop them)
100 gr. thinly sliced almonds

 

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1. Put eggs and sugar in a mixer and beat them in medium to high speed for about 5 minutes until they get pale colour and quite thick.

 

 

 

 

2. Add vanilla extract and continue beating for half a minute.

 

 

3. Add Sambuca and continue beating half a minute more.

 

 

4. Add flour, baking powder, salt and zests and continue beating until you get an even mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

5. While the mixer is still on, gradually add pistachios (it would be better to have the mixer speed in medium and not high at this moment). After that, stop the mixer, add almonds and continue mixing until both pistachios and almonds are equally distributed in the dough. Scrape the sides if necessary. You will get a very sticky dough.

 

 

 

 

6. Flour your working surface generously. Put the sticky dough on the flour. By adding more flour if necessary, turn the dough into a log with a size about 9×30 cm.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Prepare an oven tray with a baking paper on. Flour the paper just a little. Put the log on the floured paper and put the tray in the fridge to rest while you are heating your oven.

 

 

8. Heat your oven to 180C.

 

9. When the oven is hot enough, take the dough out of the fridge and put in the oven, in middle rack. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it is firm to touch and dry. Once ready, take out of the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, lower the temperature of the oven to 165C.

 

 

10. When the baked dough cools down, cut it into thinnish slices, about half a centimetre in thickness, with a serrated knife (be gentle). Put the slices on an oven tray (or two trays, in my case) with a baking paper on. Bake for 8 minutes.

 

 

 

11. Take biscottis out of the oven and turn to their other sides. Bake for 8 more minutes. And then you’re done! Let them cool down to room temperature before eating. They will get really crunchy and delicious! Enjoy with coffee or tea!