LENOX ALMOND BISCOTTI: FROM BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS

I bake a lot last week, but the result is not worth talking about (anyway, the problem could come from me, ha ha, I wanted to try many recipes and doesn’t read the recipe carefully). I feel tried and bored, but you should know me, I won’t stop baking. So, I turn to the person whom I admired, Dorie Greenspan and I hope she wouldn’t disappoint me. I wanted to try this recipe for a long time, but as I always be, I got new books almost every week and want to try many recipes from them, too, and it took me almost a years to pick this recipe and go into the kitchen. I like biscotti very much, and I tried many recipes before but I have to say this one is great. So, after a lot of failure, this cookie can comfort me, and what’s more, it’s so delicious too.

LENOX ALMOND BISCOTTI: FROM BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS

Makes about 30

1½ cups	all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons	Baking powder
¼ teaspoon	Salt
½ cup	yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8 tablespoons)	unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup	sugar
2	Large eggs
1½ teaspoons	Almond extract (I use vanilla extract)
¾ cup	sliced almonds, blanched or unbleached

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the cornmeal and whisk again to blend.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract (or vanilla extract). Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You’ll have a soft stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and mix just to blend.

Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1½ inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

If you turned off the oven, bring it back up to 350 degrees F.

Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into ¾ niche-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet and slide the sheet back into the oven.

Bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes, or until they are golden and firm.

Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.