Bitter Sweet Recipes

Biscotti is one of my all time favourite things to dunk into my coffee. I used to work in a cafe that sold delicious biscotti, and when I stopped working there I decided it was high time for me to have a go making it myself. I discovered that there are so many different types of biscotti out there, and even more ways to make it. My first biscotti were Christmas cranberry and pistachio biscotti… great flavour, but hard as a rock, these ones really were made for dunking (if you didn’t want to break your teeth). My second biscotti was an almond flavoured flop, once again tasted great, but after the first baking the log flattened out like a pancake with chunks of almond poking out. My third biscotti was almond and cherry, surprisingly it kept its shape, had a good level of crunch and most importantly tasted like biscotti should. This recipe is an amalgamation of the first two recipes with a few critical alterations to produce a delicious and good textured biscotti.

Biscotti are dried biscuits, so they will keep very well for quite a long period of time in an airtight container. They are great for gifts and easy to post in the mail to friends and relatives. This recipe will make about 13 biscuits, you can double or triple the recipe if you would like more biscuits, just make 2 logs instead of 1.

INGREDIENTS

30 ml of melted butter
75 grams white sugar
5 ml of Vanilla essence
2 ml of Almond essence
1 egg
125 grams plain flour
pinch of salt
3 grams of baking powder
40 grams of glace cherries (whole)
80 grams of raw almonds (whole)

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celcius and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

In a medium bowl mix the butter, sugar, essences and egg until well combined.
Sift in the flour, salt and baking powder and mix well.
Stir in the cherries and almonds.

With wet hands form the dough into a log on the prepared baking tray. Taper the sides to produce the biscotti shape.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the log is springy to touch and lightly browned.

Turn the oven down to 120 degrees celcius.

Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool slightly until you can comfortably handle it.

Transfer it to a cutting board and using a wet, sharp serrated knife cut the log into 1.5 cm biscuits.

Arrange the biscuits on their sides, back on the baking tray and bake for about 5-10 minutes on each side turning once.

The biscotti should now be ‘dry’. Allow them to cool before storing in an airtight container.

VARIATIONS

There are countless variations on the biscotti recipe. You can substitute the almond essence for a different flavour, or omit it and add extra vanilla essence in its place.
You can also substitute glace cherries for dried cranberries or any other dried fruit. Similarly, the almonds may be substituted with any variety of nut that complements the dried fruit of your choice.

Biscotti are also partial to being dunked in or drizzled with melted white or dark chocolate for added flavour and presentation.

Sour Cherry Cat Tongue Biscuit

Langues de Chat or Cats tongue biscuits are a classic and elegant french biscuit. These crispy buttery biscuits are delicious with coffee, and very easy to whip up at a moments notice. They are also commonly served with desserts such as ice creams and mousses, but I just like to eat them plain.

I was cleaning out my pantry the other day and found a little bottle or sour cherry essence I picked up at a european deli a while back and wasnt sure what to do with it so I thought I would have a go at making some sour cherry biscuits. This recipe takes on variations well as discussed below and my sour cherry version came out beautifully. They had a slight red hue with a subtle cherry flavour, very delicious and something a little different.
The principal recipe is of the traditional plain biscuit, however, I have suggested some variations at the bottom of this post.

This recipe will make about 30-35 biscuits, however, it doubles well if you would like a larger batch. You need to be certain to use a good quality baking paper to cook these biscuits on or you may have difficulty getting them off the tray without breaking the biscuit (like I did).

INGREDIENTS

40 grams Butter (softened)
60 grams Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar) Sifted
1 egg white
60 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon of Orange Zest

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius.
Prepare a baking tray lined with good quality baking paper.

Beat the Butter and Sugar until it is pale coloured and fluffy.
Mix in the egg white, flour and zest until just combined.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
Pipe onto the prepared tray in a curved L shape to the desired size. Make sure you leave room for spreading between each biscuit.
Bake in the preheated oven for 4-6 minutes.
I recommend you keep a close eye on these ones as they bake! They are ready when the edges a coloured slightly and they have a chewy center.

Plain Langues de Chat

VARIATIONS

You can make many delicious flavour and decorative variations on this plain biscuit.
Try substituting the orange zest for;
lemon, mandarine or lime zest,
1/2 teaspoon sour cherry essence, or
1/2 teaspoon of rose water, or
1/4 teaspoon almond essence, or
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence, or
1/4 teaspoon coconut essence.

Or dipping the completed biscuit in;
melted white chocolate then crushed pistachios, or
melted dark chocolate then crushed macadamias.