With the lockdown I had put my Taylored Bake Off Challenge on hold, but as I'm in need of snacks I thought biscotti would be perfect, and I could actually manage to eat them all. Biscotti were a signature bake on the Bake Off and so allowed me to have some creative licence. The beauty of biscotti is that they're easy to make and adaptable. Although I've made cranberry, orange, and walnut biscotti, you would easily adapt the recipe. I would suggest you stick to 3 key things though:
1) Pick a fruit you can zest, so lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit.
2) Pick something for sweetness, so dried fruit or chocolate chips.
3) Pick something for crunch, so nuts.
If you are mixing things up then use 100 grams for each sweet and crunchy item. Make sure they're chopped if they're chunky. Either way have fun making them and enjoy!
Makes 12-14 (large)
Hands-on Time 15 minutes plus cooling
Baking Time 50 minutes
Ingredients
250g Plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
1/8 tsp Fine salt
1 tsp Baking powder
120g Caster sugar
1 Orange, large
2 Eggs, large
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
100g Cranberries, dried
100g Walnut pieces, or chopped
Equipment
Baking sheet
Parchment
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Fine grater
Serrated bread knife
Wirerack
Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(Fan)/350°F/Gas mark 4.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Add the 250 grams of flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar to the bowl and combine using a spoon.
Grate the zest of the orange over the mixture and add the eggs and vanilla. Gently cream together until you have a thick mixture.
Add the cranberries and walnut pieces and stir again until evenly distributed.
Lightly flour a worktop and tip the mixture onto it. Try and form a long and wide sausage shape (about 35cm long by 5cm wide). It’s okay of you pat the sides so they are flat rather than round, they will spread when they bake. You’ll find it easier to do this if you dust your hands with flour.
Transfer the shaped dough onto the lined baking sheet and pop into to the oven on a middle shelf for 25 minutes.
Once the time is up remove the sheet from the oven and lower the temperature to 150°C/130°C(Fan)/300°F/Gas mark 2.
Leave the biscotti log to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes until it’s cool enough to touch.
Slide the parchment and log onto a worktop (or chopping board).
Line the baking sheet with a fresh piece of parchment.
Using a bread knife slice diagonally along the biscotti loaf, spacing each slice by about 2 cm.
Place the cut biscotti onto the freshly lined parchment, laying them on their sides.
When you’ve sliced all of the biscotti pop the tray back into the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden. Take the tray out, carefully turn the biscotti over and pop the tray back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes.
When both sides of biscotti are lovely and golden remove the tray from the oven.
Transfer the biscotti onto a wire rack and leave to cool before tucking in.
Enjoy!