Biscotti - Orange Walnut

Two things led to this post. The first was last weekend when we visited Lori and Joe for an evening of good company and great food. Joe served chicken with pancetta. He actually made the pancetta! It was amazing. For dessert, Lori had baked biscotti. Paul and Joe dipped their biscotti in their cappuccino, Italian-style. It made me think that I hadn't made biscotti in a long time.

Later that week I had lunch with Cammi, after taking the cutest grandson in the world for a walk. We started talking about low sodium, low fat and low sugar cooking while we ate Cammi's famous shortbread. (I know, incongruous.) I got to thinking that I hadn't baked in quite a while and maybe it was time to make some of Paul's favourite - biscotti. My recipe is a low-fat version of the original that I've been making for years.

Biscotti takes very little effort, but a bit of time, since you have to bake it twice. This recipe calls for orange zest and juice concentrate.  I buy dried zest at Galoway's so I always have some on hand - and that's what I used this time, although obviously real zest is better.

I also didn't have frozen orange juice concentrate so I substituted some orange juice to make up the amount of liquid required. I have  made it with and without orange extract and orange liqueur. The biscotti were still delicious. If you don't have walnuts, then pecans or almonds also work. My philosophy on cookies is that as long as the liquid to dry measure proportions are correct, there's a lot of wiggle room.

So bake the cookies, then get a nice cup of coffee and dip a biscotti - and why not  play some Mario Lanza or Dean Martin while you're at it.

Orange Walnut Biscotti

2 cups plus 3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup walnuts
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp grated orange zest
1 tsp orange extract
1 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
2 tbsp orange flavoured liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° and line pan with parchment

Whisk together sugar, eggs, zest, extract, concentrate and liqueur.

Add the flour sifted with baking powder.

Add the nuts just to incorporate. You may need to do this with your hands.

 

Gather dough into a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, shape into a roll.

Gently flatten the top until it is slightly domed.
You may have to add flour to your hands to do this.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the rolls are dry on top, firm to the touch and a
wooden toothpick inserted in the roll comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the heat to 300°.

With a long flat spatula, transfer  roll to a cutting board and allow to cool
for 4 or 5 minutes.

With a serrated knife, cut the still-warm logs on the diagonal into 1/2-inch
slices.

Place the slices, cut side down, on the same baking pan.

Bake @ 300° for another 20 - 25 minutes until the slices are golden and crisp.Cool and store in airtight container.