A Family Reunion Calls for Cookies: Anise-Almond Biscotti

The first trip I took after becoming fully vaccinated was to California to visit my parents -- a most welcome reunion after not seeing them for more than 18 months! For some reason, both of my parents have a particular affinity for biscotti, and since it travels so well, I sometimes send them homemade biscotti in the mail. I decided to bake a batch to take with me, and on the recommendation of a colleague, I tried a Bon Appétit recipe for Anise-Almond Biscotti.

 

You can make this dough by hand but I felt lazy and used my stand mixer. I mixed together sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and ground aniseed; added the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt); and stirred in chopped toasted almonds. I formed the dough into two logs, brushed them with beaten egg white, and baked them until golden.

After the logs were cool, I cut them into slices that I baked on a rack until the exposed sides took on a little color. While I personally like my biscotti super dry and as crunchy as possible, I was a little conservative on the second bake with these, because I didn't want them to be so hard that my parents might struggle to eat them.

I don't love anise, but I really liked these cookies. They were crisp but slightly tender to the bite, and the anise flavor was complementary to the almond. And they made it to Los Angeles in perfect condition in my carry-on bag, and stayed fresh for the entire duration of my visit. My parents were delighted with them, as was I.

 

Recipe: "Anise-Almond Biscotti" from Bon Appétit, available at epicurious.com.