I’m so excited to share with you this recipe! Christmas is around the corner and I thought it would be a great opportunity to share with you one of my favourite biscuits, pistachio biscotti!
The first time I had them was ironically at a huge American coffee chain that first opened in Singapore back in the mid 90’s and quickly fell in love with the la dolce vita – “the sweet life” of dunking it into my espresso. Back then, sitting in cafes, people watching was all a very new concept in Singapore! Even selfies were not invented yet, let alone smartphones!
Alright, back to sharing with you how to make these sweet treats. Biscottis are really simple to make and require very basic ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen pantry. They are crisp in texture, subtly sweet and perfect for espresso dunking. You can have them with nuts, cocoa powder, or spices. I’m sharing with you a simple biscotti recipe with pistachios. I love the richness of the pistachios paired with the light dough of the biscotti.
Cooking Instructions
The thing with biscotti dough is that it can get pretty sticky, so it would be great if you have a stand mixer in hand to save you from all the manual mixing. Thankfully, KitchenAid Singapore has so kindly given All Things Delicious an early Christmas gift, in the form of its iconic, red-hot stand mixer and other appliances! Look out for the Christmas Unboxing video in our social media!
Heat up your oven to 180˚C. Once you have your standing mixer plugged in, place all the flour, salt and baking soda into the bowl and give it a little mix. In another bowl, crack an egg and mix it with all the sugar until it becomes slightly frothy. Once you have these ready, you can turn on your stand mixer to medium low speed and pour in the sugar mixture to combine.
While the mixer is running, you can take this time to chop up your pistachios. I personally love leaving some big chucks because who doesn’t love biting into them! They’re mildly sweet, earthy and also slightly creamy. By the time you’re done chopping them, your dough would be almost ready. Toss those chopped pistachios into the mixture and let it mix for about another minute until the dough comes together. You may need to stop and scrap before continuing the mixer.
Time for the fun part!
First, dust your surface with some flour and turn the dough out. The dough will be quite sticky so it would be good to have something stiff like a metal spoon or a rounded edge plastic scraper to get the dough out.
Dust some flour onto the dough as well and start kneading gently for about a minute or so – it’s super fast! When the dough doesn’t feel sticky anymore, that’s when you know it’s ready for the first bake.
Roll the dough into a cylindrical shape, like a demi baguette and flatten the top slightly. Transfer the dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Before placing this into your pre-heated oven, whisk up some egg whites until slightly frothy and brush it on the surface of the biscotti log. Bake for 20 minutes.
If you didn’t know, biscotti is Italian for “twice-cooked”. Italians bake these twice to give it that extra crunch. However, back in the day, these biscuits were paired with a glass of wine, the Vin Santo – a smooth, sweet dessert wine made predominantly in the Tuscan region of Italy. In fact, many Italians today still enjoy the sweet wine pairing!
Okay, let’s get back to the recipe! When 20 minutes is up, you’ll find yourself a beautiful tanned, golden biscotti log that smells absolutely divine!
Leave the log to cool. While waiting, turn your oven down to a 100°C. Once cool enough to handle, get a serrated knife and start slicing the log. Lay the slices of biscotti flat on a baking sheet and bake them again for another hour or more. It depends on the thickness of your slices, the thicker they are the more time it’ll take for them to achieve the coveted crunch.
At the 40 minute mark, switch the tray around to encourage even crunchiness!
After one hour in the cool oven, I find my biscottis to be more than ready!
I love them as they are but if you want to dress them up a bit, drizzle them with your favourite chocolate to give that extra sweetness or enjoy it on its own with a cup of hot coffee.
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Ingredients
280g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
80g raw pistachios
2 eggs + 1 egg white
180g sugar
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
- Mix flour, salt and baking soda together into a mixer bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar and 2 eggs, until slightly frothy.
- Pour sugar mixture into dry ingredients and start the mixer on medium speed. Stop and scrap the mixer bowl with a stiff spatula from time to time to ensure even mixing.
- Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly dust the dough with flour as well. Gently knead the dough for about one minute or so until it no longer sticks to your hands. Add a little more flour if the dough is still sticky. Divide the dough into two.
- Roll each dough into a cylindrical shape like a demi baguette and transfer them onto a lined baking tray. Flatten the top slightly.
- In another bowl, crack an egg and separate the egg yolk (for future use) from the white. Using a fork, whisk the egg white till slightly frothy and brush it onto the surface of the biscotti logs before placing them into the oven.
- After 20 minutes, take out the biscotti and leave to completely cool. In the meantime, reduce the oven temperature to 100˚C.
- Using a serrated knife, slice the biscotti logs into 3-4mm slices and lay flat on your baking tray. Put into the cool oven for another 1 hour or so. Switch the tray around at the 40 minute mark.
- Drizzle with any chocolate of your choice. Dunk into your cup of espresso and enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed making these Pistachio Biscotti! Check out our full video on IGTV and follow me on Instagram to see our behind the scenes! Don’t forget to share and tag me when you try this delicious recipe. Till next time.
Deliciously Yours,
Mel!
