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Hazelnut Biscotti

Source of Recipe

Alice Medrich


List of Ingredients

1 cup whole hazelnuts
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar


Recipe

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Prepare the Nuts:
Blanch hazelnuts with 3 Tbs. baking soda in 2 cups of boiling water, and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the water turns black. Turn the nuts into a colander and run under cold water. slip off the skins and pat the nuts dry on a towel. Place nuts on a jelly roll pan and toast for about 15 minutes. Remove nuts from oven and lower temperature to 300°F. When the nuts are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop them and set them aside.

Make the dough:
Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk just to blend.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, liqueur, vanilla, and sugar.
Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon to mix.
Add the nuts and continue to mix, just until well incorporated. (Since this dough is stiff, sticky, and hard to stir, you might find it easier to use your hands.)
Flour your hands and lift half the dough onto one side of the parchment-lined sheet.
Don't worry about smoothing the dough—it will even out in the oven. Repeat with the other half of the dough, leaving about 3 inches between the logs.

First Baking:
Bake the logs for exactly 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Second Baking:
Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices, cutting straight across or diagonally.
Lay the biscotti on their sides on a cooling racks then place the rack in the 300° oven, directly on an oven rack. (Baking the biscotti like this allows the oven's heat to circulate around the cookies, so there's no need to turn them over.) The cookies may need to bake 15 minutes but check them at 10 minutes.
When they are golden brown, dry, and crisp, remove the cooling racks from the oven.
Let the cookies cool to room temperature before packing them for storage.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

Adapted from Alice Medrich's recipe in "Baking with Julia"