Battle Biscotti

As the name implies, this was a bit of a frustrating (but equally satisfying) baking experience. So it's one of my mom's friend's birthdays this week, and he absolutely loves biscotti. Naturally my mom suggests I should bake them for him, since it would be a good experience for me (good really means hair-wrenching I think). I've never made twice-baked cookies, so I figured why not?

Well, I can now name a few reasons why not. Really though, they were silly mistakes on my part. If you want to try out biscotti, please don't be intimidated by my frustrating experience.

First exasperating moment of the day: me forgetting that the food processor with the dough blade has an actual sharp blade in it as I go to pull out the dough and cut my finger open >_< . However, since my finger was still intact, I just slapped on a band aid and kept going.

Second exasperating moment of the day: this dough is THICK, and by thick I mean the most viscous substance I have ever worked with in the kitchen, Imagine the heaviest cookie dough mixed with the thickest gooey cake batter, and that's biscotti dough. I had to add an extra 1/4 cup flour just to make it come off my hands. Seriously, I could hold in in my hand and turn it over, and it would not fall off. The ensuing mess in the kitchen was not pretty. I actually had to stop taking photos after this one because I couldn't separate my fingers from the dough.

Final moment (and the most frustrating) - no one told me you couldn't substitute wax paper for parchment paper. What is even the point of wax paper then? If you can see where this is going, I used wax paper to line the baking sheet, and almost burned the house down. Mom was not happy.

BUT: I refused to lose this ensuing battle with the dreaded biscotti. So, my brother (the only defender of my baking blunders) offered to pick up parchment paper so that I could make a second attempt.

And would you look at that - we actually got something that looks somewhat like biscotti loaves! Ah, what a relief. But the battle was not yet won. The infamous cutting portion of the recipe was at hand, and all I could think about what my now beautiful cookie loaves crumbling under the blade of my knife.

Drumroll please...

Take that biscotti! I am the baker and I will not bend to your crumbly will. (Okay I promise that is the last lame comment I will make for the day. But this cookie made me feisty and I had to vent somewhere. I only have 2 followers anyway so it's not like it matters.)

I hope you all enjoyed reading my trials and tribulations, but I also hope it does not deter anyone from trying this recipe from DeliciousInspiration for Basic Biscotti. It really is worth it; they're awesome and look so impressive as a gift!

Basic Biscotti - Via DeliciousInspiration

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour (might need 1/4 cup more flour to make dough workable)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (my personal preference)


1. Sift together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl.
3. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients until it forms a stiff (and I mean really stiff) dough. Stir in any add ins.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and split the dough in half.
5. Form 2 logs the length of the baking sheet and flatten slightly.
6. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown
7. Let cool 30 minutes
8. Slice into 1/4 inch thick cookies, place back on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.
9. Let cool completely.