Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Hazelnut Biscotti
July 3, 2012 at 3:13 pm | Posted in BWJ, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I’m not supposed to be home writing this post right now, but the last three days we’ve had power outages at work and closed up shop early. Hard to work in a food business when your refrigeration is down. I feel bad for the store owners because it’s truly a mess and they lose sales when this stuff happens, but it’s a little bonus time off for me. Time off means time for a cookie break with Alice Medrich’s Hazelnut Biscotti!
These super-crunchy biscotti are the perfect little something on the side of a plate. Good with coffee (naturally), ice cream or fruit. The recipe calls for skin-on hazelnuts and has kind of a kooky method for removing the skins (just watch this video…ick). I went a far more straight-forward route– I bought pre-blanched nuts! I just toasted them as directed before proceeding with the dough. A tip that worked well for many of us this week is to lightly wet your hands before shaping the dough into logs. This helps neatly deal with the stickiness. And I recommend slicing the cookies pretty thin after the first bake, because after the second, the cookies are so crisp that a fat cookie would be hard to bite down on. They have proven to be good keepers, even with the heat and humidity we’ve had here this past week.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan or read Jodi’s Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina’s Baking and Boys. There’s also a video of Alice and Julia making the biscotti together. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll! I kept mine pretty plain and simple, but I’m sure there are lots of fun substitutions and biscotti variations this week.
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a whisk and a spoon 
Oh your hazelnuts look so pretty! I wish I could have found pre-blanched nuts. But the process worked so well it doesn’t matter 🙂 Plus I got a giggle every time I read “rub hot nuts.”
Comment by thetoastedsprinkle— July 3, 2012 #
It’s unfortunate when so much product/inventory is not saleable for a business when the power is out. Great tip on the thickness…unless you are ‘certain’ to dunk these in coffee etc, it’s a great idea to make them thinner.
~Carmen
http://bakingismyzen.wordpress.com
Comment by Baking is my Zen— July 3, 2012 #
Don’t know where my comment went…using my new computer with this mouseless whatchamacallit…
Nice tip on the width of the cookie.
~Carmen
Comment by Baking is my Zen— July 3, 2012 #
No, your first comment was there! I know what you mean though…on my mouseless whatchamacallit, I make soooo many typos. 🙂
Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— July 3, 2012 #
Pretty pic with the cherries! Ours are almost ripe… can’t wait!
Comment by guineapigfood— July 3, 2012 #
Sorry about the power outage! So stressful. Your biscotti look great!
Comment by Jodie— July 4, 2012 #
Happy 4th Steph!
Thanks so much for your blog comment. It truly means a lot to me to receive your seal of approval, especially since you helped me each step of the way! I thought you had forgotten about me, since I never heard back after my last email- I’m anxiously awaiting your reply when you get a chance 🙂 .
Your biscotti look like the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee or tea, and I love any recipe by Alice Medrich. Her cookie book is definitely in the Top 10 favorites of my collection, and I can’t wait to get her latest (about sinfully easy delicious desserts). I hope one day to come across her classic, Cocolat, in a used bookstore or something, as it\’s out of print.
Anyways, hope you’re doing well, and I’m wishing you a fun and relaxing day off to celebrate. Here in Boston, it looks like some cookouts will be washouts because it\’s raining pretty heavily. I hope the weather is nicer is NY.
Can’t wait to talk to you soon,
Joy
Comment by hotovenwarmheart— July 4, 2012 #
Pretty picture! I like the look of this biscotti, perfect with a cup of coffee.
Comment by NickkiT— July 4, 2012 #
Yum. We’ve dabbled in biscotti. My favorite was an apricot ginger. This one looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Amber— July 5, 2012 #
Your biscotti looks delicious and adding the cherries makes it an healthier snacks.
Great idea!
Comment by Ckay— July 5, 2012 #
I wish I bought blanched hazelnuts. It was an easy recipe except for the blanching.
Comment by Allison— July 5, 2012 #
Lucky–where did you find already skinned hazelnuts? I was happy just to find any at all ’round here. Your biscotti look perfect!
Comment by Katrina— July 6, 2012 #
pre-blanched nuts sounds like the way to go!
Comment by spike— July 6, 2012 #
Your biscotti are picture perfect!
Comment by sanya— July 7, 2012 #
Hope things are back to normal
Your biscotti are beautiful – love the picture with the cherries.
Comment by Cher— July 11, 2012 #
The cookies look beautiful!
Comment by Cathleen— July 11, 2012 #