Gift Week: Parmesan and Black Pepper Biscotti
This week we’re focusing on homemade gifts, something to give for Christmas or Hanukkah (or any other holiday of your choice!) This is pretty good timing for me as this coming weekend I will be in the kitchen making tons of homemade gifts so they are at their freshest for giving!
Whenever I’m deciding what gifts to make I automatically think of sweet things: there are so many different types of biscuits, cookies, muffins, brownies, blondies etc to bake and these all make wonderful gifts. My young cousins would be furious if I didn’t include plenty of sweet things for them. But not everyone loves sweet things all the time. In my experience thinking of savoury things to include can be a bit of a challenge so I’ve tried to focus on the just as delicious savory angle this week.
Parmesan and Black Pepper Biscotti (from the ever wonderful Smitten Kitchen)
This recipe makes 4 logs worth of biscotti which is around 5 or 6 dozen, depending on how thick they are cut. This may seem like a lot but just watch them disappear at parties….
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons black peppercorns – ground roughly
- 4 cups plain flour
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 2 tsps salt
- 4.5 oz/125g/2 & a quarter cups grated parmesan
- 1 & a half sticks/170g/three quarters of a cup of cold butter - cut into small cubes
- 4 eggs
- 235ml/1 cup of milk - preferably whole or full fat milk
First off heat your oven to 175 C or 350 F.Then mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, most of the parmesan (about 2 cups worth, keep some for topping) and a tablespoon of the ground pepper. Add the cubes of cold butter and work into the mix with your fingertips until the butter is worked in. Whisk three of the eggs with the milk and then add to the dry ingredients and stir in, with a fork if you have one handy! Divide the dough into quarters as you will be making four separate biscotti logs. Form these four pieces into a slightly flattened log shape around 12 inches long, 2 inches wide and 3/4 of an inch deep. And yes I got a measuring tape out to be sure….
Then take two baking trays, ungreased, and place two of the logs on each. Whisk the last egg and spread some of this over the logs, then top with the remaining black pepper and parmesan. Here’s where things vary slightly if you have a fan assisted oven, if you do then the following steps aren’t as important as they are in a traditional oven. In a traditional oven you will have hotter spots towards the top of the oven so to make sure all four logs are cooked equally you need to swap them around in the oven. In a fan assisted oven cook for around 20-25 minutes while in a traditional oven you will need to cook them for 30 minutes and to swap the trays onto the other shelf in your oven halfway through. You might also want to rotate the sheets so the log that as at the back for the first 15 minutes is towards the front for the second half. Once this time is finished, cool the logs for around 10 minutes. Lower the temperature of the oven to 300 F or 150 C.
The next step is to slice the logs into the individual biscotti which should each be around 1/2 an inch thick. Slice these from the log at a diagonal and then place the biscotti onto a baking tray in a single layer. Bake these for 35 to 40 minutes in a traditional oven or 25 to 30 minutes in a fan assisted oven. Halfway through the cooking time the biscotti need to be flipped over so both sides get nice and crunchy. You’ll know that they’re done when they are golden and crisp and delicious looking.
Do let them cool before eating as they will be very very hot! Then wrap up in a gift bag or a tin and present them to friends and family!
