Aunt Victoria's Biscotti
- 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) apricot, peach or nectarine kernels (from about 40 pits, cracked open with a hammer; discard pit shells)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grappa
- 1 teaspoon anise extract
- 1 teaspoon aniseed
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place kernels on a baking sheet, and toast in oven until they smell nutty, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven, and let cool.
- Chop finely.
- In bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter until fluffy.
- Add sugar, and cream again until fluffy.
- Beat in eggs until mixture is smooth.
- Beat in grappa, anise extract and aniseed.
- In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.
- Beat them in just until mixed.
- Stir in chopped kernels.
- Lower oven temperature to 325.
- Set an oven rack in upper third of oven.
- On a lightly floured board, make rolls of dough an inch or so thick and the length of your baking sheet.
- Set them on the sheet 2 inches apart, and bake on the oven rack until they are set and lightly browned on top, about 25 minutes.
- Cool rolls on a rack 5 minutes, and slice diagonally 1/2 inch thick.
- Lay slices back on baking sheet, and return to 325-degree oven for 5 minutes to dry them.
- Turn slices, and dry 5 minutes more.
- Cool on a rack, and store in a tightly covered container.
- The flavor improves if cookies are stored a few days.
apricot, unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, grappa, anise, aniseed, flour, baking powder, salt
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7994 (may not work)