Double Chocolate Biscotti Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you chill biscotti dough before baking? ›

Because the dough can be sticky and hard to form, it's important to chill the batter for a good 30 minutes before baking the first time.

Baking soda – baking soda helps the biscotti rise and spread. Make sure that your baking soda isn't expired. Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.

The choice is yours; just keep in mind that those made with butter or oil will have both a softer texture and a shorter shelf life. As for fillings and flavors, biscotti get along with a host of ingredients, including dried fruit, nuts, spices, liqueurs and chocolate.

Just like biscuits, you can't overmix the dough. I found that if the dough is mixed too much, the biscotti becomes dense and heavy.

A: Overbaking the logs of dough during the first baking can make the slices crumble as you are cutting them. Also, even if the logs of dough are perfectly baked, they will crumble if they are sliced while still warm, so be patient. The logs crumble when you use a dull knife, too.

The dough.

Biscotti dough is inherently sticky. I recommend adequately flouring your hands before working the dough, and if it's still too sticky to handle, add a little flour at a time but just enough so you can work with it.

Baking soda is a leavening agent. It creates air bubbles (technically, carbon dioxide) in your batter, when heated. Without it, your baked goods will not rise to the desired levels and the airy texture you're looking for will be adversely affected.

The Vino Dunk – Purists would say the only liquid to dip your biscotti in is wine. As they do in Tuscany, you can dip your biscotti into rich red wines, especially those on the sweeter side. Marsala wine and Vin Santo are the wines of choices for dipping.

Biscotti are hard, crunchy cookies as they are usually baked twice - the word biscotti is derived from Italian - "bis" meaning "twice" and "cotti" meaning "cooked". Usually the dough is formed into small loaf shapes (similar to a ciabatta loaf) and baked for around 20 minutes, then cooled slightly before slicing.

Why is my biscotti so hard? ›

The answer's in the name: “bis” (twice) + “cotto” (cooked). Biscotti are made by part-cooking a sort of flat loaf. That loaf is sliced into individual cookies and baked again until hard and crisp. And that hardness is sort of the point.

Cookies with high moisture content, such as soft and chewy varieties, are more susceptible to spoilage when left out overnight. On the other hand, drier cookies, like biscotti or shortbread, can typically withstand longer periods at room temperature without significant quality deterioration.

This technique calls for the baker to shape the dough-y batter into loaves, bake them once & then slice them down and bake the product once again. This second bake ensures that the result is a reliably hard, crispy crunch that comes from slowly drawing all the moisture out of said batter.

If when you have baked the loaf, and then they fall apart when you try to slice them, you have baked the Biscotti too long.

After the first bake, allow the biscotti to cool for about 10 minutes but don't leave them too long. If you leave them too long the dough will become too hard and it will be difficult to cut, but if you cut them when they are hot the slices will crumble.