Selena Robins, Author

Italian.
Sexy.
Sweet.
Hot.
Fresh.
Dunkable.
Nutty.

Nonna Approved
Pistachio-Almond-Orange Biscotti

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 TBSP vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 large orange, zested
*** Your choice here: 1.5 ounces Orange Brandy – or – 1.5 ounces of the juice from the orange
3 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 TBSP sifted baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup unsalted, peeled pistachio
1 egg, beaten with 1 TBSP water (for egg wash)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg and add 1 TBSP of water; set aside. You’ll use this at the end.
4. In a bowl, beat the following ingredients with a whisk until they are all well blended: oil, 3 eggs, vanilla, sugar, orange zest, (brandy or the orange juice, whichever you choose to use).
5. In a separate bowl, add all the following ingredients and mix together so that the nuts are evenly coated: flour, baking powder, salt, almonds, pistachios
6. Add the dry ingredients to the egg/oil bowl mixture, and blend until you get a sticky smooth dough. Be careful not to mix too much, as you don’t want a cake consistency. If the mixture feels too dry, add a bit of orange juice until you get a sticky dough.
7. Sprinkle flour on your work surface and also on your hands.
8. Place the dough on your work surface and divide it into 4 equal balls.
9. Add two of the dough balls to your cookie sheet, using your hands, press down until they are about 1/2 inch in thickness.
10. Brush the top of each dough with your egg wash. A light coating. This is optional: You can sprinkle some sugar on top of each.
11. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, they should be a light golden brown.
12. Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and let cool completely. In the meantime, put the other two balls of dough onto your cookie sheet and repeat steps 9 to 12.
13. Once they are cooled, slice them crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.
14. Put the sliced cookies on the cookie sheet and bake an additional 5 – 10 minutes.
15. The second bake will depend on how crispy you’d like them to be. If you want them to be really hard, so that they need to be dunked into hot coffee/tea, then you’d bake them longer. But if you are looking for a nice crunch, not too soft or not too hard, then 5 – 10 minutes is good.

Buon Appetito!

I’m always excited when a blog follower downloads a recipe and gives me feedback. I am especially tickled when they send me pictures and let me know how much they enjoyed the process and the fruits (or in this case, cookies) of their labour.

Thank you to Nancy Bristow for sending me the following pictures. She had fun baking these biscotti and plans to make more.

Here is a collage of her biscotti-making adventure.