Ingredients
About 5 1/2 dozen biscotti
For the biscotti:
For the egg wash:
Step 1
Prepare the biscotti. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Spread the almonds and pistachios evenly on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Toast for about 30 minutes, until they are golden brown. You will be able to smell the nuts when they are ready. A good test is to break a nut in half and check to see if it is light brown on the inside. Toasting the nuts brings out their natural flavor. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet on a wire rack.
Step 2
Place the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 5 minutes; the mixture will hold together in a soft dough. Add the cooled toasted nuts and mix until they are evenly incorporated, about 1 minute. If you are using a hand-held mixer, you may want to knead in the nuts by hand to avoid burning out the motor of the mixer.
步骤3
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place on a very lightly floured work surface. If the dough is sticky and hard to work with, it is too soft. To fix this, flatten it into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour. (When the butter in the dough gets cold, the dough will stiffen.) Remove from the refrigerator and proceed.)
Step 4
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Use the palms of your hands to roll each piece on the lightly floured work surface into a rope 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Each rope should be even and fit on your baking sheet lengthwise. If the dough sticks to your hands or to the work surface as you are rolling it, dust it lightly with flour. Roll firmly to remove any trapped air bubbles. (At this stage, you can wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two weeks. Bring it back to room temperature before baking.)
Step 5
Place two of the biscotti ropes on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet. You will only have room for two because they spread as they bake. With a pastry brush, lightly brush each rope with the egg white; this will add shine to the baked biscotti. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minues. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the baking sheet.
Step 6
Use a serrated knife to slice the biscotti on a diagonal into 1/2-inch thick cookies. If you do this while the biscotti are still warm, they will not crumble. The biscotti will harden as they cool. If they are still soft when you slice them, place the slices on a baking sheet and bake at 300°F (150°C) for another 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat the baking and cooling procedure with the remaining biscotti rope.
Step 7
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for two to three weeks.
Jacques Torres
William Morrow and Co., Inc.
Leave a Review
Reviews (19)
Back to TopThis biscotti recipe is delicious, but more of a shortbread biscotti than a traditional one. My logs pretty much retained their shape resulting in a short biscotti, but I was not surprised since you do not melt the butter and you are supposed to cook while the butter is cold. If you want them to spread out I would try melting the butter before mixing it in and then letting the logs get to room temp before baking. I only got a few crumbs while cutting them and I did it straight out of the oven. Make sure you have a super sharp knife and don't move it back and forth too much, use more downward pressure, doing so I avoided most crumbs. I love anise, lemon and almonds so I thought the overall flavor was fantastic. I would make these again, but next time add another egg and decrease the butter so that they are less soft and more of a crisp biscotti.
sophiadavidson
5/11/2010
This is a wonderful recipe. I have made it several times always with great success.
Heloisa
Freeport, NY, originally from Brasil
2/26/2010
So easy - you do not even need to cream the butter. I used a blend of macadamia, apricot kernels (poor mans almonds from TJs) pine nuts for the almonds and subbed pepitas for the pistachios. Also fennel seed for the anise. Tasty & so very easy!
sprichard
Plainfield, NJ
7/17/2009
Everyone I know loves these Biscotti!!! I teach in an inner city school and cook with my students. They love making these by hand, and of course eating them with tea. I have made these many, many times
jcarlosfrick
Boston, Ma
4/30/2008
I would like to send great thanks to the person from Tuscany Hills,Ca. who wrote the hint about using an electric knife to cut the biscotti. It was sent in November 03. I would love to thank her personally, but know this is impossible. It works so well.
ruthredburn
Monroe, NJ
12/18/2006
This was my first attempt at making biscotti and it was alot easier than I thought it would be. I'm not sure if toasting the almonds is really necessary but you have to be really careful not to burn them. Also, i cut the cookies AFTER they cooled. It was much easier, the cookies tended to fall to pieces if you cut them when they come right out of the oven.
MykeVS
N. Arlington, NJ
12/10/2006
I love the flavor of this biscotti, but I ended up with almost as much crumble as I did cookie. Also, after being in the oven for only 20 min, the almonds gave off a very toasty smell but by then they were a bit overdone. For my first biscotti attempt, I'm not too discouraged.
Anonymous
Cambridge, MA
2/22/2005
Jacques, You have geeven recette weech produce ze crumbs, crumbs and more crumbs. Zis is so frustrating!
danielboulud
NYC
10/12/2004
I loved this recipe. The anise seed gave it a surprise after taste that was delicious. For the best treat, dip the biscotti in a sweet marsala, or vin santo. It will melt in your mouth.
ssurace
Mtn View, CA
9/18/2004
Not a big fan of anise (i know, blasphemy) so I use double the lemon zest and an equal amount of orange zest. Very flavorful and rich.
Anonymous
Durham, NC
9/18/2004
我没有茴香所以取代你zo (1-1/2 tbls). It gave the biscotti just a hint of anise/licorise flavor - just the way I like them. Living at a high altitude I had to adjust the baking time and recommend the second baking for everyone. I had a few crumble during slicing but I saved the larger crumbs and used them to top ice cream.
Anonymous
Sierra Vista, AZ
2/15/2004
Haven't made this recipe. Just searching. Wanted to pass on a neat idea by chef Alton Brown. Use an electric knife to cut the biscotti. Just tried it on another biscotti recipe and it works great!
Tuscany Hills, California
11/30/2003
Loved the combination of Anis and Lemon such a fresh combination, my first batch I tried to make it into logs, but became all one sheet of Biscotti, still I sliced it and seperated and baked it the second time came out delicious but got a zero for presentation. So I repeated a second batch, this time I pulsed the nuts with some sugar in the food processor, and instead of logs I rolled the dough, which taste great, then chilled it and egg washed it. Perfect this time . Jacques Torres is one of my favorite chefs, he is so talented, I knew his recipe must be good.
Anonymous
Dana Point, California
1/6/2003
I had been looking for a biscotti recipe that I had used in the past, when I stumbled upon this one. After reading positive reviews, I decided to attempt to make it. The recipe is simple and easy to follow. Uncertain about the anise, I too, decided to omit. The outcome, disappointing! The recipe did not yield the amount stated. And mine, too, came out small and crumbly. Definitely not the recipe I had tried once before that earned praise.
Anonymous
woodstock, ny
11/27/2002
Loved this recipe. It was easy to make and the results were amazing. The biscotti has great flavor with a hint of orange that grows stronger with time. I tried substituting maple syrup for the honey and the biscotti was equally good.
Anonymous
Washington, DC
2/23/2002
