Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

2 c Unbleached all-purpose 1/4 c Flavorless vegetable oil
-flour (10 oz. or 290 grams) 1 1/2 ts Pure vanilla extract
1/4 ts Baking soda 1/2 ts Pure almond extract
1 ts Baking powder (5 grams) 1 2/3 c Unblanched sliced almonds
1/4 ts Salt 1/3 c Unblanched whole almonds
2/3 c Sugar (4.75 oz. or 132 Topping
-grams) 2 tb Sugar (1 oz. or 25 grams)
2 Scant tabs. orange zest, 1/8 ts Ground cinnamon
-finely chopped (see note) 1 lg Egg white (2 tabs. or 2 oz.
2 lg Eggs (3 fluid oz, or 3.5 oz -weighed)
-weighed without shell)

Note: Remove zest from orange in lengthwise strips with vegetable
peeler, and chop finely. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. FOOD PROCESSOR
METHOD In medium bowl, sift together all but 1/4 cup of the flour
with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk to mix well.
In food processor with metal blade, process sugar and orange zest
until zest is finely minced. Add eggs and process about 30 seconds
or until thoroughly blended. Scrape sides of bowl. With motor on, add
oil and extracts and process until blended. Add sliced almonds and
process until finely chopped. Add flour mixture and process about 7
seconds or until flour is almost incorporated. (There will be some
flour clinging to sides of work bowl. Do not overprocess as the dough
will be too stiff to incorporate the flour completely in the
processor.) ELECTRIC MIXER METHOD Finely grate orange zest. Finely
chop sliced almonds. Place them both in medium bowl. Sift together
all but 1/4 cup of the flour with baking powder, baking soda, and
salt and add to nuts and zest. Whisk together to mix well. In large
mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs for several minutes, until very
thick and pale in color. With mixer at medium speed, beat in oil and
extracts. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture. ~ For both
methods: Scrape dough (including any flour from work bowl) onto
lightly floured counter and knead dough, adding remaining 1/4 cup
flour to form a soft, non-sticky dough. Shape dough into two 2-inch
wide cylinders. Each will be about 7-1/2 inches long. Line up the
whole almonds lenghtwise in rows along dough and press well into
dough. With palms of hands, roll cylinders on counter, enclosing
almonds and maintaining the 2-inch diameters of cylinders. Place
cylinders 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. In small bowl, stir
together sugar and cinnamon for topping. Beat egg white. Brush
cylinders lightly with beaten egg white and sprinkle with cinnamon
topping. Bake on upper rack of oven 30 minutes or until lightly
browned and very firm. Cool cylinders on cookie sheet 15 minutes or
until just warm. Slip them off the sheet and onto counter. With
serrated knife, cut diagonal 1/2-inch slices. Place slices closely
together on lightly buttered cookie sheets. Toast the slices about 8
minutes. Using small metal spatula, turn them and bake another 8
minutes or until golden brown. For even baking, rotate cookie sheets
from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking time. Use
a small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer cookies
to wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight container at room
temperature. Keeps several months. SMART COOKIE HINTS Unbleached
flour has more gluten-forming proteins, which help to hold the
almonds in the dough and make the dough less fragile. When the
almonds are placed lengthwise, they do not fall out of the baked
dough as readily and are more attractive when sliced. Biscotti can be
tricky to cut into neat slices. If the cylinders are too hot or
completely cold, the slices tend to break. When cutting the biscotti,
hold the cylinder near the end being sliced and press it gently on
top. If it is still crumbly, try popping it in the oven for another
5 minutes. Using coarsely chopped almonds instead of whole almonds
is another solution, but they are less dramatic in appearance. These
are called Mandelbrot (with an umlaut over the "o") in German. Makes
3 dozen 3-inch by 1-1/2-inch cookies.

Submitted By BILL WHITE MSG#: 2162
Submitted By GAIL SHIPP On 08-25-95

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