Cinnamon Raisin Biscotti
Biscotti, the poor, misunderstood cookie. Dry and crunchy, people just don’t give it the respect it deserves. I certainly didn’t until I made them for Pastry School.
These little delights are meant to be dunked, and apparently originally the idea was to dunk them in wine. Who knew? And what’s not to love about that?
I always assumed you went from dry and crunchy to dunked and soggy. Nope. When these little guys are dunked in your beverage of choice (mine is coffee), they soften and feel more like a regular soft cookie texture as you eat them. And even with my flavored-cream-concoction that poses as coffee, the flavor of the biscotti still came through like a champ.
So I’m converted. I love biscotti. Who knew????
You really can put whatever you want in these little crisp cookies like nuts or dried fruits - and chocolate chips work but may leave small gaps. But, I mean, its chocolate so its a worthwhile endeavor. I’ve experimented with a few mixtures and below present my first favorite: cinnamon raisin.
We love cinnamon in our house: apples and cinnamon, raisins and cinnamon, cinnamon and brown sugar - if its a baked good with cinnamon, odds are we have eaten it and enjoyed it. So this was a natural fit for my family.
What Do I Need?
You don’t need anything particularly special or unique to make biscotti - a mixer (hand or stand), a baking sheet, parchment paper or silipat mat, and a good serrated knife will all be used, but you probably have these laying around. Instead of parchment paper, I use silipat mats on my baking sheets to prevent baked goods from sticking. I highly recommend these because they are sturdy, work wonderfully, and are more environmentally friendly that using and disposing of parchment.
What I use:
The items below are the specific products I have used in making my biscotti. The silipat mat had been a wonderful addition to my baking toolkit!
Tips and Tricks
First off, weigh your ingredients instead of using the volume measurements (cups, teaspoons, etc). It is far more accurate and you will get more consistent results. The recipe below gives you the grams for each ingredient, and the best approximation of the volume. Keep in mind the recipe is built on ingredients being measured by weight though.
You are going to mix your eggs, sugar, and salt over a simmering water bath (or bain marie). My chef for this class gave us a very understandable way to determine when you were ready to take the mixture off the heat - but its nasty. And highly useful - so here goes.
Stick your thumb and forefinger in the mixture - it should be the temperature of hot water coming out of your tap, a little bit gritty as most but not all sugar will have dissolved, and have a really specific consistency. That consistency is…snot. Yeah, I know, gross. Especially when baking. But as a mom of three kids, I got it immediately and it was true. Sorry.
Once you have reached the right consistency and temperature, you are going to start whipping the mixture. I use my stand mixer to do it, but you can do the same with a hand mixer. If you are using a hand mixer, move it around a lot and use the whip attachment if you have one. You want to introduce air and make this mixture light.
When you whip the egg mixture, you want to reach the ‘ribbon stage.’ Ribbon stage means when you can use a spoon or the mixer to lift up a small amount of the batter and swirl it around as it drips back into the bowl. As you swirl it around, it leaves a ribbon on the top of the batter. That ribbon stays for about 3 seconds before it sinks back into the batter in the bowl.
When you are whipping anything with eggs - whole, yolk, or white - and you are instructed to fold in other ingredients, do it with care. Swoop around the edge of the mixture against the bowl, gently fold, then swoop again as you turn the bowl a bit. You don’t want to deflate the mixture by mixing to hard. The air whipped into the eggs helps give it the right texture.
Wet your hands when you shape the dough into a log. This picture has two logs because I made a larger batch but this recipe will result in just one. You don’t want to use flour to keep the dough from sticking, because you can dry out the dough. You may need to wet your hands again as you shape the dough.
Once you brush the log with an egg wash, generously pour granulated sugar over the entire log. After its baked, you will have a nice glisten of sugar all around the log, and ultimately on the edges of each cookie.
This picture is after the first bake. Notice you can see the sugar on it, which is great. As the biscotti dries out during baking, you will also get these little cracks in the top. This is also totally normal and gives it a lovely rustic look.
Once the log has cooled, you can slice the cookies. Use a serrated knife and cut it into 1/2” slices.
Line them up on your baking sheet and bake them the second time. This time is a lower temperature to make them a nice golden brown.
Cinnamon Raisin Biscotti
Ingredients
Instructions
- Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
- Bring about an inch of water to a slow boil in a sauce pan.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Combine eggs, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl, and whisk them together over the simmering water until its warm to the touch. (about 120 degrees)
- Remove from heat.
- In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, whip the egg mixture until its is thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
- Add orange zest, cinnamon, and vanilla.
- If you are using a stand mixer, switch to the paddle attachment. If using a hand mixer, use low speed until it can no longer mix, then switch to a sturdy rubber spatula to fold.
- Fold in half of the flour/baking soda mixture until it is barely mixed in.
- Add the remaining flour/baking soda and continue mixing until just combined.
- Add the raisins and mix until evenly distributed, careful to not overmix.
- Using wet hands to prevent sticking, mold the dough on the parchment paper into a log, about two inches wide.
- Mix up an egg for an egg wash. Brush the log with the egg wash.
- Sprinkle granulated sugar generously over the log.
- Bake the log for 30-40 minutes. It will be firm and lightly golden brown. You should be able to tap it and it will feel solid, and not depress when your finger touches it.
- Remove and let cool. Turn oven down to 275°
- When its cool enough to handle, slice the log into 1/2" pieces.
- Place the pieces cut side down on your baking sheet.
- Toast at 275° for 20 minutes, until lightly toasted and dry.
Notes:
When whipping the eggs over the simmering water, the sugar will mostly dissolve. If you dip your first two fingers in, it will be very warm, a little gritty from the sugar, and a stick consistency. The consistency has been described by my chef as similar to, wait for it.....snot. And its unfortunately true...and a sadly good way to be able to tell its at the right point.
Enjoy! Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!
