After I made cheddar chive scones on Thursday night, I had a small block of extra sharp cheddar left over. Quite a fortuitous circumstance, because I had just enough cheese on hand to try out a recipe for savory cheddar biscotti that I saw in the New York Times last week. The recipe accompanied an article by Mark Bittman about savory biscotti, the online version of which included a video of Bittman demonstrating the recipe:
These biscotti are very easy to make, as you can see in the video -- which I unfortunately didn't watch until after I had tried the recipe. I was a little dismayed when the top of my biscotti loaf split like a french bread baguette during baking, causing a small imperfection on the top of each sliced cookie -- but after I watched the video, I realized that this is expected to happen, and I felt lot better.
I sliced mine quite thin -- so they looked a bit like melba toasts -- and I got 18 biscotti from the recipe. They were nice and crisp, and had a wonderful cheesy flavor. If you like cheese crackers, you will like these biscotti. I think they would be terrific on top of a bowl of tomato soup, or as the base for some hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail party. My only complaint was that I thought they were a little too salty. I will reduce the salt in the recipe the next time I make these (although it could have also been due to the cheese I used -- some types of cheeses are saltier than others).
These biscotti reminded me of one of the best lines from one of my favorite children's books, Bea and Mr. Jones by Amy Schwartz. In the book, kindergartener Bea Jones decides to switch places with her father, who is an advertising executive. At the Smith & Smith Advertising agency, Bea comes up with a catchy jingle just in time to save the Crumbly Crackers account, and I think it describes these biscotti perfectly: "Munchy Crunchy my dear snackers, You will love our Crumbly Crackers!"
Recipe: Savory Cheddar Biscotti from the September 24, 2010, New York Times.
These biscotti are very easy to make, as you can see in the video -- which I unfortunately didn't watch until after I had tried the recipe. I was a little dismayed when the top of my biscotti loaf split like a french bread baguette during baking, causing a small imperfection on the top of each sliced cookie -- but after I watched the video, I realized that this is expected to happen, and I felt lot better.
I sliced mine quite thin -- so they looked a bit like melba toasts -- and I got 18 biscotti from the recipe. They were nice and crisp, and had a wonderful cheesy flavor. If you like cheese crackers, you will like these biscotti. I think they would be terrific on top of a bowl of tomato soup, or as the base for some hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail party. My only complaint was that I thought they were a little too salty. I will reduce the salt in the recipe the next time I make these (although it could have also been due to the cheese I used -- some types of cheeses are saltier than others).These biscotti reminded me of one of the best lines from one of my favorite children's books, Bea and Mr. Jones by Amy Schwartz. In the book, kindergartener Bea Jones decides to switch places with her father, who is an advertising executive. At the Smith & Smith Advertising agency, Bea comes up with a catchy jingle just in time to save the Crumbly Crackers account, and I think it describes these biscotti perfectly: "Munchy Crunchy my dear snackers, You will love our Crumbly Crackers!"
Recipe: Savory Cheddar Biscotti from the September 24, 2010, New York Times.
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