RITU DALMIA'S ALMOND BISCOTTI

"I'm a better person when I have less on my plate." - Elizabeth Gilbert

 

 I was complaining, as usual, to a friend much wiser than me. I realize I'm not much of a benchmark for wisdom but don't let that undermine her, she is in fact very wise. I was whining about how lazy I am and recently I've pretty much given up, put my feet up and taken to watching as deadlines swoosh by my face. It's gotten so bad I was thinking of going on some sort of detox diet/juice cleanse.

 

Thankfully, I spoke to a more intelligent being before forking over a ton of cash for some ick green juice. It's kind of silly to think of our bodies or minds as mechanical objects that will perform at the same level consistently. Add the mental and physical abuse we put ourselves through and it's a miracle my body runs at all. When I think of the millions of minutiae that people consider impacts us and our behavior, diet of course but also exposure to sunlight, hydration and as per some, the phases of the moon, I guess I should learn to accept some of my lazy ass phases.

 

During the process of accepting this laziness I even managed to bake these surprisingly simple, low sugar, no butter biscotti. Perfect for pairing with a hot cup of coffee and a good book.

Makes about a dozen biscotti
Recipe adapted from Ritu Dalmia's Travelling Diva

 

What you’ll need:

150g flour
150 g almonds

75 g icing sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 -2 tbsp orange zest

How to:

1. Toast the almonds in a dry pan and chop into slivers.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, vanilla and orange zest.

3. Pour the egg mixture into the flour and knead with your hands. Knead till you have a sticky dough – add a little flour to your hands if it’s getting TOO sticky.

4. Roll the dough into a ball and split the ball into quarters. Roll the quarter into a rectangular log.

5. Place on a baking tray with parchment paper or which is buttered down. Brush down the logs with the last beaten egg and bake for about 40 minutes or till golden.

 

 

6. Cool for about 20 minutes and then slice the loaf into biscuits. Don’t let the loaves cool for too long because you won’t be able to slice them without their crumbling.

 

7. Place the slices back on the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes (watching carefully to make sure the biscotti isn’t burning).

 

 

 

8. Remove the biscuits from the oven and let cool completely.

Note: Once they’re cool, store them in an airtight container because they’ll get soggy outside.