walnut biscotti

I took a big risk when I baked these walnut biscotti. Ordinarily, biscotti is made using plain flour. However, I did not have any plain flour left and the amount of plain wheat flour that I had was not sufficient. I had a little cake flour left (which was not sufficient to bake a cake either).

Taking a leap of faith, I used a mixture of plain wheat flour and cake flour to bake the walnut biscotti. I guess I had the last laugh when the biscotti turned out delicious. Phew!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups plain wheat flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
1 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup whole walnuts

METHOD

1. Place the whole walnuts on a baking tray. Toast the walnuts at 160 degrees celsius for 5 minutes. Leave to cool.

2. Sift the plain wheat flour, cake flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Mix the eggs and castor sugar in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer until combined. Add the vanilla essence.

4. Fold in the flour mixture using a wooden spatula and mix until a dough is formed. Add the toasted walnuts and mix well.

5. Using floured hands, divide the dough into half. Turn the dough onto a floured board and roll each half into a log using floured hands. (Note: if the dough is too soft and sticky for you to handle, you may want to place it in the refrigerator for a while to harden the dough before you handle it. For me, I generously floured the board, my hands and the dough before I rolled out the dough using floured hands without hardening the dough in the refrigerator.)

6. Place the logs on a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper, spacing the logs at least 3" apart. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius for 35 minutes or until light brown.

7. Remove the tray from the oven and let the logs cool for 10 minutes. Place the logs onto a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice the logs into 1" thick.

8. Place each slice (cross-section facing upwards) on a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper. Bake at 160 degrees celsius for 10 minutes, turn the slices over and bake for another 10 minutes or until light brown and crispy.

9. Let the biscotti cool thoroughly before storing them in an air-tight container.

TIP

If, like me, you do not have a sweet tooth, you may like to reduce the amount of castor sugar to your preference.