[April] Almond-Orange Biscotti

Continuing with my biscotti challenge, here's the recipe for April.

(I really hope I'm not sick of biscotti by the end of this year!)  

My previous two recipes were made using butter, but I came across many recipes online that used no butter at all or used olive oil instead. Since I've been making these so often, I wanted to try and make some lighter versions too.

So this time around I decided to try an olive oil approach, before attempting to go completely 'fat'-free. I was a bit worried about the olive oil flavour being too strong though, so I used orange zest to counter it and also I used extra light olive oil the first time around. However I have made these with extra virgin olive oil as well and both versions turned out great. 

I am yet to try a recipe without anything to mask the olive oil flavour. Who knows, it might not even come across that strongly. But hey, I have still have eight more months, eight more biscotti recipes. The orange does go really well with this recipe though and I imagine it would be really good with lemon zest too.

(You can find more photos on how to make biscotti here and here.)

Ingredients

2 oz (⅓ cup) almonds

zest of 1 orange

⅓ cup caster sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons olive oil

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰F (165⁰C).
2. Place the almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then chop them up and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add the caster sugar, olive oil, orange zest* and egg, and beat by hand, or with an electric mixer, for about 2 minutes.
5. Sift together the flour and baking powder and stir into the wet ingredients, along with the chopped almonds.
6. Turn the biscotti dough onto a greased and lined baking tray and form into a log shape, about 2 inches wide, an inch high and 10 to 12 inches long. (It's more of a batter than a dough, so use your spatula to shape into a log.)
7. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
8. Remove the biscotti log from the oven and turn the oven temperature down to 290⁰F (145⁰C).
9. When the log has cooled, slice it into ½-inch slices.
10. Place the sliced biscotti back onto the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, then turn the biscotti over and bake for another 20 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

(*You can zest the orange using a microplane or fine grater, or you can remove the orange peel using a vegetable peeler, making sure to use only the orange zest and none of the white pith. Grind together the peel and sugar in coffee grinder, as I did here, before adding it to the rest of the wet ingredients.)