Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Cornmeal-Currant Biscotti

January 5, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 4 Comments
Tags: baking, cookies

Seems it’s been over a year since we’ve made a cookie from BWJ, but now here comes Nick Malgieri’s Cornmeal-Currant Biscotti. These are his take on a classic Venetian cookie called zaletti. They’re rustic, not too sweet, a little lemony and are a nice nibble with coffee, tea or dessert wine. Making the dough was easy to do by hand, but I had to watch the video of the TV episode before I formed and cut them into their traditional diamond shapes. I tried to form them about the same thickness as Malgieri did, but maybe I should have gone a little thinner…I expected them to be crisp and sandy like shortbread, but instead they had a texture reminiscent of a scone, with a bit of grit from the cornmeal. That’s not a bad thing by any means (and three days on, they still seem to keep well), but it left me a bit curious about these cookies. After doing a little more research on zaletti, I saw that the dough is often rolled out thinner before being cut into the diamonds, or else it is simply done in slice-and-bake form. I normally think of something called biscotti as twice-baked, but zaletti just hit the oven once (the recipe does give a twice-baked alternative for those wishing to bake them that way). Forming them thinner would have made them more crisp with their single bake, I’m sure. They have great flavor, though, and we’re still very much enjoying them.

For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. There’s a video of Nick and Julia making the cookies together. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

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I was also a little curious about zaletti and after looking them up, the few recipes I read called for slicing and baking them so that they would be crispy. The recipe intrigued me just enough that if I ever bake them again, I would try a different recipe.

Comment by alisahuntsman— January 5, 2016 #

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I love reading your blog and learning a bit more about what I’m baking. I too think they should have been crisper.

Comment by Sunshine x 2— January 7, 2016 #

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These look so good!! I will have to add this to my weekend baking 🙂

Comment by A. Joy— January 8, 2016 #

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These look so fun! This weekend I am planning on experimenting with zucchinis and lemons…(maybe a muffin/scone/cupcake????) And will post a blog about it. The other week I made Cranberry orange scones. So good!!! Scones just seem like the perfect thing these cold winter days! 🙂

Comment by izziemakesyoudizzie— January 23, 2016 #

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