Biscotti

This is Silvia Colloca's recipe for Cantuccini con Pistacchio e mandarin, or Pistacchio and mandarin biscotti.   Low fat but not low cal.  All I can say is yum yum yum.

The first time I made it I had not cooked it enough in the first cook to be able to cut it, so back in it went. No problem.  I do think you could just roll out the dough and cut it into fingers and put those on a tray to bake - I will try it out next time.  You could do the whole thing in a food processor or even by hand in a bowl, I use a rather elderly mix-master.

You could vary the mandarin zest to taste, more is better!  Nuts tradionally are pistacchio, but you could easily use almond or hazelnut.  These biscotti keep for ages.

Ingredients:

450gr. Self raising Flour
350gr. Sugar
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon melted butter
Grated zest of two mandarins
a pinch of salt
200 gr. pistacchios
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste

Method:

Whip eggs and sugar with a mixer until pale and creamy. I then added the sifted flour, the butter and the mandarin zest and vanilla. Mix with a dough hook until a lovely dough forms.  Then incorporate the nuts by hand.  Shape the dough into three logs and cook in an 180-C oven for about 25 mins, or until just brown on the edges.

Let them cool slightly, then slice them using a sharp bread knife into fingers whatever size you like.

Put them back on the tray and toast for about 5 mins.  The longer you toast them the harder they will be.