Pistachio and ginger biscotti

These wonderful biscotti are definitely worth making, they are a delight to eat in comparison to the tooth breaking regular biscotti, which I do like, but not love! These I LOVE!!! They are full of flavour, crumbly and delicious. Everyone I passed these to said, no thanks I don’t eat them, they are to hard! I obviously forced them to try and they were all presently surprised and couldn’t believe the difference.

They are still twice baked the same as regular biscotti but are so much softer. If you like to dunk you can still dunk these in your Vin Santo or coffee, a dunk will be all you need as apossed to a soak and that side bite that you know your going to have to go back for another dunk to have any chance of breaking it off and keeping your teeth!! The only problem I found with these is that they are lethal little buggers and it’s hard having just one.

They keep well for up to 2 weeks so they would make a perfect foodie gift to take to friends if your visiting over the up and coming festive season. I kept a couple back to test they didn’t harden up and they don’t!

The recipe is from Ottolenghi The Cookbook ( worth getting ) The only change I made was I used Cointreau instead of brandy, this was only because I found the Cointreau first. In my oven they took 50mins in the final bake so just check towards the end of the cooking time. They are very simple to make and even easier to eat! I really hope I’ve sold these to you! I will definitely be making them again nearer to Christmas, if you want to get ahead and have time the dough can be frozen after the first bake just defrost then slice. ( I haven’t tried this )

So if you don’t like to dunk things in your wine/tea/coffee then these are just perfect! Or if you wish biscotti weren’t so hard then this lovely recipe is for you.

You will need: A baking tray lined with baking parchment, electric mixer ( can be done by hand )

110g caster sugar
80g unsalted butter – room temperature
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp brandy ( I used Cointreau )
Finely grated zest of 1 1/2 oranges
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
80g shelled pistachio kernels
60g stem ginger in syrup, drained and roughly chopped

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together until they are light in colour. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in the brandy and orange zest, followed by the flour, ground ginger and salt. Then fold in the stem ginger and pistachio.

Lightly dust the lined baking tray with a little extra flour and spoon the mixture on to the tray. Leave this to rest in the fridge for about 30mins so it can firm up a little. Now preheat your oven 190/170 fan/gas mark 5.

Take the dough out of the fridge and, using your hands dusted with a bit of flour, form a log shape about 25cm long. I used a spatula here as well. It really doesn’t need to be perfect as it will spread during baking.

Bake for 20mins, then remove from the oven and leave to cool. The log is now partially baked and still quite soft. Turn your oven temperature down to 150/130fan/gas mark 2.

Once the log has cooled down, use a serrated knife to cut it across into slices 1cm thick. Lay them flat on the baking tray and return to the oven for about 40mins, until crisp. Remove and leave to cool, store in a sealed container.