Biscotti

Biscotti (which means 'twice baked') are the crunchy Italian cookies whose history goes back hundreds of years. If you've eaten one from an American supermarket, you would agree immediately, and think that you got one of the originals left over from Christopher Columbus' long voyage. Try a batch this Christmas season, and change your mind.  Enjoy them with a cappuccino or a mug of hot cocoa, and leave a few for Santa.  They will be fine all the way back to the North Pole, or to your office in the New Year.

Biscotti
1/2  cup softened butter (one stick)
3/4  cup sugar
2   large eggs
2   teaspoons of vanilla extract
1   teaspoon orange zest
2 1/4   cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2   teaspoon baking powder
1/4   teaspoon salt

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Dry whisk for several seconds.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until blended.  With the mixer still running, add the vanilla extract and the orange zest. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl once or twice to make sure there's nothing clumped at the bottom of the bowl.

With the mixer running, add the dry ingredients slowly by shaking them in. Do this as evenly as possible.  You will notice that the mixture will transform into a cohesive dough 'suddenly', in just one or two turns of the paddle. At this point, stop the mixer.

Scrape the dough right onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat liner.  Pat it into a log form, flattening the top and rounding the sides to be as uniform as possible. Bake the log for the first time for 50 minutes in an oven preheated to 300 degrees.

After the first baking, allow the log to cool until you can hold it to slice it.  Using a large serrated knife, slice into 3/8", long biscotti cookies. You can slice diagonally, or horizontally. Place these cookies onto another baking sheet, also prepared with parchment paper or a silpat liner.  Bake the individual cookies for approximately twenty minutes, after having turned the oven down to 275 degrees.  Half way through the baking time, turn each cookie over carefully to finish the second baking.  You can store them carelessly, and still enjoy them for weeks.