Italian Christmas Biscotti

 

The house is all spic and span for Christmas.  I have all of the food in that I am going to need for our dinner.  All my gifts are out and all that remains to do now is a few bits and bobs and last minute things.  Whew!  I can relax, knowing that all is in hand.  With that in mind I took advantage of there not being any pressure on and baked a few goodies that I had seen on Pinterest or the web and had wanted to try for the holidays.  Tasty goodies like these Italian Christmas Biscotti which I saw weeks ago on a blog called The Merchant Baker.  

 

I first saw them on Pinterest and they immediately caught my eye because of their name.   Biscotti.  But Biscotti are crisp dunking Italian biscuits are they not?  I love Biscotti!  These are not those type of Biscotti.  I was intrigued and pinned them into my Italian Treats board with the idea in mind to make them one day.  Today was that day.  (As I am writing this on Thursday.)

 

These are very similar to a sugar cookie, but there is no rolling or cutting.  Well . . .  I say that, but you do have to roll the dough into ropes and cut it into lengths before twisting it into that lovely looking shape you see here.  (If you check out the Merchant Bakers page she gives an excellent tutorial on how to do just that and there are videos.)

 

Another thing which impressed me was that they looked incredibly easy to make.   And I was not wrong.  These are an easy cookie and they end up looking so pretty when they are done.  You just make the dough, shape and bake.

 

Once cooled you then dip them in a very simple vanilla icing glaze and sprinkle with coloured sprinkles.  Easy peasy, lemon squeasy.  And they are so pretty, don't you think? 

 

Another plus . . .  the recipe was very easy to cut in thirds.  Since there are only two of us and we can only eat so much, I wanted to cook only a third of the recipe.  I got approximately 16 delicious cookies.  Little sweet pillows of Italian perfection.  The perfect cookie to bake at the last minute for the holidays!

 

*Italian Christmas Biscotti*

Makes 4 to 5 dozen 

Printable Recipe

These are not Biscotti in the sense of the crunchy dunking Italian Biscotti, but rather they are soft buttery vanilla pillows of scrumminess.  Adapted from a recipe found on The Merchant Baker.  These are simple, quick and delicious to make.

3/4 cup salted butter (175g)

1/2 cup icing sugar (65g)

1/2 cup white sugar (95g)

3 large free range eggs, beaten

3 cups plain flour (460g)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

For the glaze:

2 cups icing sugar (260g)

2 TBS (or more) cold water

few drops vanilla

You will also need coloured sprinkles for decorating 

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Have ready several large baking sheets which you have lined with baking paper. 

Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy.   Beat in the beaten eggs a bit at a time until completely amalgamated.  Beat in the vanilla.  Sift together the flour and baking powder.  Stir this in to make a soft dough.  

Scoop out the dough by half cup fulls and (on a lightly floured surface) roll into ropes roughly 1/2 inch in diameter or about the size of your pinkie.  Cut into 5 inch lengths.  Bring the ends together and twist lightly twice.  Place on the baking sheets leaving about 2 inches in between.  Repeat until you have used all the dough.   

Bake for 6 to 10 minutes until set and cooked through.  You won't want them to brown.  (Mine took 8 minutes just like the Merchant Baker's did)  Allow to sit on the baking trays for a few minutes to cool, then scoop off to wire racks to finish cooling. 

Whisk together all of the glaze ingredients until smooth.  You will want it thin enough for dipping.  Dip the top sides of each cookie into the glaze and then place onto a baking tray.  Sprinkle with sprinkles and continue until you have glazed and sprinkled all the cookies.  Leave to set the icing and then store between layers of kitchen greaseproof paper in airtight containers.  Will keep approximately 3 days.

 

To make one third of the recipe or only 16 cookies you will need:

1/4 cup butter (65g)

3 TBS icing sugar

4 TBS granulated sugar

1 large free range egg

1 cup plain flour (140g)

1/4 tsp baking powder

few drops vanilla

For the glaze:

3/4 cup icing sugar (98g)

1/2 TBS water

drop of vanilla

This is a really, really nice cookie.  I can see all sorts of possiblities here.  I think another time I make them I might add a touch of lemon zest to the dough and some lemon juice to the glaze instead of water.  Then they would be lemon drizzle biscotti.   Yum!  Bon Appetit!

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