Growing up in Slovenia, being surrounded by many countries with such rich food traditions definitely has many perks, as many of them are only a short drive away. Italy, with all its goodness, is definitely one of them, and being able to finish a meal with some crunchy almond biscotti… These biscuits are so comforting and easy to make and still some of my all time favourites to have with your favourite cup of coffee or tea, or more traditionally with dessert wine or maybe some whiskey. You can swap the almonds for other type of nuts of your preference and skip or swap the cranberries as well, although I do quite like the combination. Also note that after baking and cooling the logs, when it’s time to cut them, use the best serrated knife you can get your hands on, and be prepared to have some crumbly almond bits that will resist being uniform cut into biscuits. Still bake them in the same way you will the whole biscuits as they will make for the most delicious giant almondy crumbs.

Recipe:

Ingredients: 

• ¹/₄ cup melted butter
• ³/₄ cup raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ³/₄ cups all purpose flour
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¹/₂ cup dried chopped cranberries
• 1 ¹/₂ cups chopped dry roasted almonds
• *some orange or lemon zest

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 165 C.
2. In a self-standing mixer whisk together butter and sugar until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Swap the whisk with a paddle attachment and having the mixer on low speed add half of the flour mix to the butter and sugar. Now add in the eggs.
4. Still slowly kneading add the rest of the flour mix, knead for a minute more till it all forms a ball and mix in the chopped cranberries and nuts. Let the mixer incorporate them slightly and finish kneading using your hands, so it all stays together.
5. Divide the dough in half and form two logs on a sheet of baking paper, brush with some melted butter.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or until logs are light brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 30 minutes. The logs should be cool before you slice.
7. Cut the logs into 1.5 cm thick slices. Lay them on their sides on your baking-paper covered tray and bake for 8 minutes. Then flip every biscuit so the bottom side is now facing up and bake for another 8 minutes. Once they’re done, try not to eat them all in one go.