Hazelnut biscotti recipe & coffee

Go straight to the hazelnut biscotti recipe

Going for a walk into a beautiful nearby parkland with my daughter has become our daily ritual. We are so lucky that we live so close. In fact, being right on a doorstep, my daughter doesn't even know yet how lucky she is. If only all the kids would be that lucky.

She would always find a good excuse to go to this park again. Bugs, ducks, blackberries, squirrels, beautiful summer grass and fish in the lake are just for a taster. Autumn in particular is the adventurous time of the year with conkers obsession being a climax of this colorful period. We collect them every day, bring them home and place them in a huge box. She will make some conker sculptures for school, but still, plenty of them will be left lying around. When asked about that she quickly exclaims that all the conkers are actually for squirrels (and there are so many everywhere around here). She is so worried that they would stay hungry during the winter, so she has decided to "feed" them during the difficult (cold and frosty) time.
I can't help myself but to be proud of this child, she is so compassionate and willing to help hungry animals.

Ashamedly so but I was nowhere near as sympathetic towards squirrels when her age. Every autumn I was totally obsessed with hazelnuts which grow very close to my grandparents house. I was worried that squirrels would eat all the hazelnuts and nothing would be left for me. So, I checked every single day whether they are already ripen and then I would meticulously pick one by one.

Poor squirrels, really. When I told this story to my daughter, her astonished reply was: Muuuuuuuuum, how could you?????

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But the good thing was that my grandmother used to bake so many different cakes using those hazelnuts. Sadly, non of this recipes exists anymore. She never used cookbooks or wrote anything on the paper. What a waste but it's too late now I'm afraid.

Well, I try to follow her steps by using hazelnuts in my kitchen quite extensively and one of the recipes which I use is hazelnut biscotti recipe. I just love a cup of yummy coffee and teaming coffee with hazelnut biscotti brings about a completely new world of flavors. It's a perfect combination of tastes and aromas. Biscotti's sweet taste is in perfect harmony with the taste of my favorite Turkish coffee.

My daughter tries to copy us in everything, as kids do. She desperately wants to be grown up and take a part in every coffee session, bless her. She dunks her cookies into a glass of hot milk or hot chocolate and tries to contribute to the conversation.

This biscotti recipe is one of many easy biscotti recipes where things really can't go wrong. The batter will become really runny at a certain point but don't panic, just take a spoon and transfer the batter onto a prepared baking sheet, it's really easy.

Our consumption of hazelnuts has increased considerably since I tried this recipe in our kitchen for the first time. It is very well known how important hazelnuts are in a healthy balanced food diet. That's why I am so generous in adding more than required quantities of hazelnuts.

Oh yes, by the way, all kind of biscotti are great comfort food on our journeys (yummy!). They are unbreakable and keep their taste and freshness for a very long time. Sugar content in them keeps us awake and our energy levels stay high. They also keep us busy for a while too.

Hazelnut biscotti recipe:

Makes: 35-40

INGREDIENTS:
- 250g plain flour
- 175g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- zest of 1/2 orange
- 100g whole hazelnuts
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/374F/gas mark 5. Put the flour into a large bowl, then add sugar and baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the center and stir in beaten eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and hazelnuts.
- The batter will be quite runny, but that is OK. Take a spoon and transfer the batter onto a prepared non stick baking sheet.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until pale golden and set.
- Transfer the log to a chopping board and slice into 1cm thick slices (advice: use a serrated bread knife).
- Put sliced biscotti back onto the baking sheet and return to oven for 10 minutes until golden and dry. Leave them on a wire rack to cool and harden.

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Method (step by step):

	STEP 1: Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/374F/gas mark 5. Put the flour into a large bowl, then add the sugar and baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the center and stir in beaten eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and hazelnuts.
	STEP 2: The batter will be quite runny eventually, but that is OK. Take a spoon and transfer the batter onto a prepared non stick baking sheet.
	STEP 3: Bake for about 20-25 minutes until pale golden and set.
	STEP 4: Transfer the log to a chopping board and slice into 1cm thick slices (advice: use a serrated bread knife).
	STEP 5: Put sliced biscotti back on the baking sheet and return to oven for another 10 minutes until golden and dry. Leave them on a wire rack to cool and harden.

Our coffee choice for hazelnut biscotti recipe:

cappuccino
espresso
cafe latte
Turkish coffee

Useful tips:

Hazelnut biscotti can be stored and stay fresh in a tightly closed container as long as 1-2 months.
You can also dress up ice cream or other desserts with biscotti or serve them with good sweet dessert wine.
If you prefer really hard cookies than extend the second baking time for a few minutes.

Good to know:

Hazelnuts are one of those very important nutritious foods. It contains Vitamin B1, B2, B6 and E. It is also a good source of iron, calcium, zinc and potassium.
25g of hazelnuts a day means a good protection for heart disease and cancer.
Hazelnut biscotti are also an excellent choice for presents sent by mail. Because of their hardiness you don't need to worry about breakage.
But don't overstuff or under-pack the container. If there is too much space left in container just fill it up with tissue paper.
It is recommended to place some paper at the bottom of container and between cookie layers just to prevent breakage.
Hazelnut biscotti recipe is one of those really easy biscotti recipes and is therefore suitable for baking with children. They can help with mixing, eggs, weighing,...

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