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Making cookies seems to be a holiday tradition for most households this time of year.  We’re no exception.  My husband channels his Italian roots and tackles making a variety of biscotti based on his mother’s hand-written recipe.  Although she focused on the traditional anise seed and toasted almond cookies, he has expanded the variety that comes out of our kitchen enormously. This includes a variety of nuts, flavors, and dried fruit.  Coffee and chocolate, anyone?  Yumm.

In past years, he would begin making biscotti weeks in advance.  They’re such a dry cookie that they seem to keep forever, that is, if we don’t eat them.  However, we’ve had to cut back our production, primarily due to the increase in cost of ingredients, and especially the higher cost of shipping to our friends and relatives.  So we thought that we’d share the recipe, a little updated, but anyone can follow this.  Just allow some time.

We use all real butter and eggs, real nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, anise seed and vanilla.  The recipe shown here is toasted almonds and Craisins, with white almond bark icing. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream the following

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• Add 2 tbsp anise seed
• 2 tbsp anise flavoring but my husband uses vanilla instead

Set aside for a moment.  In a smaller bowl, mix the dry ingredients together, sift

• 6 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tsp baking powder (that would be 2 tablespoons)

Have 1 cup almonds toasted and broken up or whatever other nuts you intend to use, ready to add.

About 1 cup of dried fruit (Craisins, dried cherries), or mini chocolate chips, etc.  Maybe some orange or lemon zest, finely ground coffee, etc.  Just don’t add so much that the dough becomes too moist or heavy.  You want a dry dough.

Then begin to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, about a third at a time.  His favorite tool is the plastic bowl scraper.  You can add the nuts and fruit about half way.  Keep adding all the dry ingredients.  It will be a pretty stiff dough but don’t add any more liquid. 

Divide the dough into four sections then place on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.  Shape into rolls and flatten.  (See photo.)  They’ll end up about 10 inches long and 4 or 5 inches wide. They will raise in the oven.

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, reverse pans and cook until lightly brown.  They’ll be a little bit soft but not much.  After they cool on the pans until you can handle them, slice about ¾ inch wide in diagonals (see photo).  Then bake for another 20 minutes to toast or until done.

Bring them out and let them cool on the pan.

When they are cool, then prepare the icing.  I like white or chocolate almond bark, melted and drizzled over the cookies.  Sometimes both.  Sometimes dipped one end in chocolate.  Sometimes make a powder sugar/lemon juice icing. 

You will need four squares of white almond bark in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.  Melt in the microwave about 1 minute and 20 seconds on medium.  Pull out, start breaking up the lumps with a fork and stirring around.  The heat from the cup melts the icing.  Put back in the microwave about another minute.  Then pull out and stir rapidly to continue melting the almond bark. 

Here you have to be very quick to drizzle the icing over the cookies from the tines of the fork.  You can add a contrasting layer of icing (say dark chocolate) in a different direction.  DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID TO THE MELTED ALMOND BARK.  It will create a mess.  DO NOT OVERCOOK THE ALMOND BARK.  It will burn. 

When the cookies have totally cooled, store them in a lidded container.  They should last for a long time but we don’t really know.  They’re usually all gone before they have a chance to get stale. 

Some of my favorite combinations of flavors are:

• Traditional, anise seed and toasted almond
• Craisins and almonds
• Dried cherries and walnuts
• Mini chocolate chips and coffee (grounds, tbsp)
• Lemon and toasted almond
• Chocolate chips and orange rind

Use your imagination.  Please send photos if you decide to make this recipe.  Santa will be very happy.

PS, my husband says that if they don’t turn out exactly right, get back with us and he’ll try to help you fix it.