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Sunday, February 1, 2015

ABC - Orange, Date & Almond Biscotti

I love biscotti and lucky for us, so does Christina Marsigliese. Her blog, Scientifically Sweet, contains many biscotti recipes. The one that caught my eye immediately was the Orange, Date & Almond Biscotti, probably because my favorite biscotti is one that a close friend shared with me, many years ago. It's a Cranberry, Almond and Anise Seed biscotti.

Delicious cup-a-tea with a biscotti. Notice the scalloped top. I explain later how I did that :o)



If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.


This recipe came together very easily. For convenience, I used my KitchenAid to make the dough.

The dry ingredients plus my addition of golden flax seeds to make them health-IER :o)

Fairly sticky dough. Dry dough could cause crumbling later after baking.

With oiled hands and work surface, I rolled it into a ball and cut it in half.

Formed 3" wide logs, about 10" long instead of 12" because I like my biscotti to have some height.

Brush with egg wash. Then, for a scalloped top, run a fork over the top of the log.

After an 18 min bake in the oven, I took them and let them cool for 20 min or so.

Slicing was a breeze as long as you use a sharp knife. No crumbling.

Ready for the second bake.


Ta-da! Bon Appetit! :o)

Final thoughts/tips:

  • Hubby liked the flavor of this biscotti a lot. He said that he preferred my "regular" biscotti over this one because of the texture. He thought this one was a bit more crunchy. Still he gave this one an 8 out of 10 rating.
  • I liked the biscotti too. Skipping the almond extract made the orange flavor come through really well which I liked. Leaving the almonds whole was great from a texture perspective as well as labor perspective! My pre-chopped dates (they come in a paper canister) were a bit hard so I put them in some boiling water for 5 min and then squeeze them in a paper towel. To be on the safe side, I used only half the amount and compensated with cranberries, just in case. From a texture perspective they were just a tinge harder than my normal biscotti. 
  • Cutting the biscotti was no issue at all. They didn't crumble. I like my biscotti to be about 1/2" (1cm) wide and so I ended up with 30-33 pieces, including the 4 end caps.
  • My changes:
    • Used half butter (28 gr), half oil (28 gr).
    • Skipped the almond extract.
    • Added 1 tbsp golden flax seeds.
    • Used half dates (42 gr) and half  cranberries (42 gr).
    • Two large eggs weigh 100 gr. Since I was using XL eggs, I weighed the eggs and used the leftover for the egg wash without needing to break another egg :)
    • Biscotti decoration/scalloped top: once you brush the top of the logs with egg wash, take a fork and run it over the top as straight as you can.
  • The recipe can be found HERE.
  • Don't forget to check out the Biscotti post of other ABC bakers.

12 comments:

  1. Looks Good! Do you have to grind the golden flax seeds. I bought a packet of flax seeds because of you..hahahahaha.. the last cookie you made with golen flax seeds...but I noticed I had to grind them..so I haven't made the cookies yet.

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    1. Faithy I used the flax seeds whole. I hope you try these!

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  2. You always have such nice presentation, Hanaa. Very pretty!

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  3. Thank you so much for sharing how to get the lovely scalloped edges. These look wonderful!

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  4. Adding flex seeds is such a great idea! This is a good recipe to work with. Thanks for selecting it.

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  5. Your biscotti look really nice. I would leave the almonds whole, too, as I do it in my breads. I'm not sure whether I will join the ABC bake since my husband hates biscotti and they kids are all gone after Christmas. Maybe a little batch when he is gone :)

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  6. Great biscotti. Loved the scalloped top. Hmmm why did I not think of flaxseeds? 😄

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  7. Oooh - I shall have to remember that trick with making the tops scalloped. Beautiful!

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  8. ...even beautiful tea cups in this post. Lovely! Also, great idea with the flax - must do that.

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  9. Great job, love your pictures.Just bought flaxseed, interesting addition.

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