Cinnamon Crunch Biscotti

I was in a cinnamon mood last week.  Now, I know around the holidays spiced cookies abound.  I make plenty of them myself - pfeffernusse and lebkuchen for example.  Both fragrant with ground cloves, cinnamon, and so on.

But I wasn’t interested in all those other spices.

I only wanted cinnamon.

So here’s what I did…

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

I used the almond biscotti my sister-in-law, Nina, contributed to a cookbook my mom put together for me when I got engaged way back when.

Then I made a couple of changes here and there.

So here are the ingredients:

5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons cinnamon

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup slivered almonds

1 more egg, whisked with a bit of water

Sparkling sugar and some cinnamon, combined

~~~

First, I melted the butter, and then set it aside to cool.

Next, I whisked together the dry ingredients.

Oops!  Can’t make cinnamon biscotti without the cinnamon.

Next, I put the sugar and eggs in the bowl of my mixer and beat them until they were pale yellow and thickened. 

Then I added the vanilla and the cooled, melted butter.

Then I added in the dry ingredients (sorry, no picture for some reason – my photographer is a slacker, apparently.  Oh, wait.  That would also be me.  Hm.)

Once the wet and dry ingredients were just combined, I added the almonds.  I just kind of kneaded them in quickly by hand.

Looks good already, doesn’t it?

Then I dumped the dough out onto the counter and divided it into four roughly equal portions.

I suppose “dumped” isn’t proper terminology when writing a recipe, but really, that’s what I did.

Then I shaped each portion into a log on a parchment lined sheet pan (well, two logs per pan) and pressed them down so they were about half an inch thick.  They ran nearly the length of the pan – maybe 16” or so.

I brushed each flattened log with egg wash.

and then I sprinkled my sparkling sugar and cinnamon blend on the tops.

Cinnamony and crunchy!

I baked the biscotti for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans at the halfway mark.  I lowered the temperature to 325F, then I took the biscotti out and let them cool for about ten minutes, and then I sliced them, on a slight diagonal, about half an inch thick.

Then I placed all those pieces back on the cookie sheets and baked them for a total of 25 more minutes – fifteen on one side, then I flipped them all over and baked another ten on the other side.

I let all the biscotti cool on the sheet bans – no particular reason, I think I was doing something else and got sidetracked – and once they were cool, I packed them away in a box.

Well, not all of them!

Comments

[Jane M]

Biscotti baking hint as I include 2 of my home made biscotti in every order I ship. Place the cut biscotti on a cookie rack that's placed on top of the cookie sheet. Then you don't have to turn the biscotti as the heat gets all around! Much easier indeedy!

[Jayne]

Ooh, that IS a handy tip!! Thanks!

[Jessie]

About how many does this recipe make? I just need a general idea. . lol. . these look soo good. I know my family and coworkers will love them as a holiday treat!

BTW I love all your recipes! I think I gained 10 lbs just looking at all the wonderful deserts. The Valentine's Day ones look so beautiful!

[Jayne]

Jessie, sorry about that - this recipe makes about five and a half dozen the way I did it. If you want larger biscotti, you could just make two logs and get about 2 1/2-3 dozen.