For years, I considered myself biscotti-challenged. Every time I made them, they flopped, failed, spectacularly underdelivered. 

So it took an act of courage to add them to my cookie roster this year. But after learning to draw in the Pyrenees, learning to trust my body on snow crossings in Colorado, and stretching my language skills with the Italian B1 exam, I figured the only thing I had to lose was flour. 

Imagine my delight when these biscotti not only worked, they soared! Part of the success came from working through potential problem areas with my friend Lisa, who I have on speed dial for all things culinary.

She told me about using a mixer with the sugar and orange zest to really prod those citrus oils out of the peels and into the ingredients. She also told me about spraying the loaves of just baked dough with a spray bottle, as the lightly misted dough proved easier to slice, and she told me how to manage the second bake to assure firm cookies. 

I opted to use my favorite flavor combination (especially after returning from Turin) for these—hazelnut, chocolate, and orange. But you can do whatever you want, adding up to 2 cups of “add-ins” (nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, what have you) to the batter before baking. 

Which is what I love about these biscotti—they are basically a canvas to let your flavor preferences fly.

Plus, prettily packaged they make great gifts!

Hazelnut, Chocolate, and Orange Biscotti

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

zest from an orange

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped from the bean and placed in a bowl

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

optional: 1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup hazelnuts, roasted in a pan or in the oven until toasty golden brown, then chopped

1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

optional: sparkling sugar

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees, with rack in the center. 

2. Combine zest with sugar and mix for a few minutes with a mixer to work the oils from the peels. Transfer sugar to a bowl.

3. Into the empty mixer bowl, place the vanilla seeds and the butter and cream until light.

4. Add the citrus sugar and mix until fluffy. 

5. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, mixing until smooth.

6. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and mix into the butter mixture, along with the nuts and chocolate.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lisa suggests (and I found this easy) to use an ice cream scoop to put balls of dough into three lines, using your damp hands to shape them into roughly equal loaves. You can do it any way that works, as long as you wind up with three loaf shapes of dough on the baking sheet, spaced as far apart as possible. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar if using.

8. Bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Remove loaves from oven.

9. Let loaves cool slightly, then mist one with water from a spray bottle and transfer it to a cutting board. Instructions often suggest a serrated knife to cut diagonal slices of biscotti, about a half inch thick. But some report, and I confirm, a sharp non-serrated knife can work better. This may depend on what you have in your biscotti. Lay the cookies down on a rack, set over another cookie sheet. 

10. Put cookies into the oven for another fifteen minutes at 325, then reduce the heat to 300 until they are dry and firm to the touch. If they are browning, you can turn the heat down to 275 so the cookies dry, rather than brown.

11. Remove rack from the oven and let cookies cool. 

12. Store in an airtight container.

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