Tis the season for cookie baking, and every year I definitely bake my share of cookies to go around. I love trying new recipes and baking a variety of cookie types so that everyone can choose what they like. I’d never made biscotti before, but they pair great with coffee and are sturdy enough to be packed, shipped, and transported for gifts, so I thought I would give them a try.
I developed this recipe for toasted hazelnut biscotti because I think that hazelnuts are a very underrated nut. Everyone thinks of them in Nutella, but they are so much more than that. They’re nice and meaty, very firm, and have the most amazing aroma when you toast them. And for the toasted hazelnut biscotti, I didn’t want to just chop up the nuts within the dough, but I wanted to grind some into hazelnut flour so you really get some of that toasted hazelnut goodness within each and every bite. This recipe makes about 14-16 biscotti.
NOTE: If you are going to make a double batch, (I did) I recommend making one batch, and while it is in the oven for the first time, make the dough for the second batch, and when you take that out to cool, put the second batch in for the first bake time. If you double the recipe and make it all at once, the cookies won’t bake as evenly.
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts ground into a flour consistency
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a dry sauté pan, add in 1 cup of hazelnuts, and toast over medium heat until they are fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside to cool. And once they aren’t too hot to touch, take ¼ cup of the hazelnuts and grind them until they are a flour like consistency. I use my nutri- bullet to do this and it works great, but you could also use a coffee or spice grinder.
Next, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, ground hazelnuts, and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, vanilla, and orange zest in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add all of the flour mixture except for one tablespoon in 2-3 batches, and beat just until blended. Chop up the remaining hazelnuts and toss them with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour mixture to coat them. This will ensure that they get suspended in evenly throughout the dough and don’t all fall to the bottom.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface (the dough will be very sticky) and form the dough into a 13-inch long, 3-inch wide log, placing it on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake until light golden, 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
After it is cooled, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2 to 3/4-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
The biscotti can be made ahead. Store them in an airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap them in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.