Twice-baked plain Italian almond cookies with added chocolate come with memories of cookie hunting in Italy.

I discovered biscotti when I was on an art school trip to Florence. This is long ago. Breakfast, as I remember, was awful, just some stale toasted bread and nothing on it, and I was starving during the day from the long tramp along churches and such. We got into the habit of getting fresh buns from shops or markets that we would pass by chance, and the small local bakeries would usually have some cookies as well. Somehow I was able to buy cookies by pointing at them and say the few Italian words that I knew. The shopkeepers didn’t waste much love on the idiot tourist that didn’t speak Italian; but many *grazie* and smiles and thumbs up still help a lot.

Pretty soon I knew I only wanted the “biscotti”, and I started to buy them at every bakery I came across, as they were such a great discovery. And in doing so, I found out that looking for the bakery in every village or place you visit, is an awesome excuse to roam around and get to know the place better – not only in Italy.

Biscotti are really just plain humble cookies that are kind of generic; baked twice to make it keep long, it’s just a dry biscuit with almonds. The wonder is in the soft, airy, crumbly texture in combination with the crunch of the nuts. They are awesome, not very sweet, and are great to munch on while tramping through a great city like Florence – or having with coffee back at the tent, of course.

Back home, I tried to find a recipe for biscotti. This was *way* before the internet, and I had a hard time finding anything. As it’s but a humble, plain cookie, as a recipe it was not to be found in the Italian cooking books that were for sale at the time. Still, eventually I found something. Over time I’ve added chocolate chips to it and some lemon zest, which I like.

Prepare

Make sure to toast the blanched almonds, as that greatly improves the flavour. The easiest way is to put them spread out on a flat tray in a 180°C medium hot oven for about 10 minutes, to brown them slightly. Cool and halve them or chop them up. Leave the oven on. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Assemble

Beat the sugars and eggs on medium speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 to 7 minutes). It will become pale and fluffy and start to thicken a bit, and this is what makes it airy and wonderful. At this point beat in the almond extract. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and salt with a fork. Add to the egg mixture and beat until combined. Fold in the chopped almonds and chocolate.

Transfer the sticky dough to the baking sheet in lumps using a spoon, then shape into (several) long oval-topped bars with moistened fingers (1). I made them using a width of about 8 or 9 cm and about 2 cm high, but the biscotti I bought in Italy were a lot smaller: more like 5 cm wide!

Bake

Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C, or until you start to smell the cookie baking. It should be done through and through, so if you tend to underbake, give it somewhat less heat and more time. Test: an inserted pin should retract without dough sticking to it. Remove from oven. For a more authentic look, dust them with powdered sugar. Let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes (2).

Leave the oven to cool down to about 140°C.

When cooled enough, carefully move the bars to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut it slightly diagonal into slices of equal 2.5 cm thickness. Place the biscotti, cut side down, back on the baking sheet (3). Bake 15 – 20 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 15 – 20 minutes – the object is to dry out the cookies so they will be crisp and store well. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.