Biscotti an Italian Cookie or Cake?

• 1 cup flour


• 1 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• ¾ cut walnuts or slivered almonds


• 2 Tbsp. of orange or lemon zest


• 1 tsp. baking powder


• ¼ tsp. salt

Mix everything together with an electric mixer. If you want to add dried fruit or gourmet chocolates, do it after it's all mixed so that you don't break up the additional ingredients when you add them.

Bake at 375° F for 20 minutes after forming into a square. Remove from the oven and cool. After the loaf is cool, remove from the pan and slice on the diagonal as described above. Place cookies back on cookie sheet on the cut sides and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in a cool, dry place. Biscotti can also be frozen in an airtight container.

1.Want to try your hand at biscotti? There are many recipes out there, and all are pretty much the same. The one technique you will need to learn is how to cut the biscotti. You will first mix all the ingredients together. Then you will place the dough on a cookie sheet and pat it down into a large, flat rectangle. It will bake for about 20 minutes. You'll pull it out of the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. After the cooling period, you will slice the biscotti.

2. Take the biscotti as one whole loaf off the pan and place it on a cutting board. You will cut diagonally starting at one end of the loaf and continuing down the entire loaf. Then, cut each diagonal section again on the diagonal until you have long "fingers" of cookies that you will immediate recognize from the store bought versions.

3. Place the biscotti on their cut sides back on the baking sheet. Return them to the oven for another 20 minutes. This allows the cookie to harden to the right texture for dipping in coffee or tea. And this is where the name biscotti comes from. The bakers of Italy baked their biscotti twice to give them their classic crunch and texture.