Celebrating Lawrenceville's Joy of Cookies Tour

In honor of Lawrenceville's Annual Joy of Cookies Tour this weekend, here's a recipe for honey almond biscotti to add to the cookie fest.  (Also see our previous post for some great honey ginger bread cookies!)  If you head to the Joy of Cookies Tour, be sure to check out The Gallery on 43rd Street.  Proprietor, Mary Coleman, offers a wonderful array of local artists' works and is selling our honey--highlighted in a recent I Heart Pittsburgh blog post!

Biscotti are difficult to pull off when honey is in the recipe because honey tends to soften baked goods, especially after a few days.  If you have a biscotti recipe that uses lots of sugar, it’s probably wise not to try to replace the sugar in that recipe with honey.  This recipe works well, though, and the flavor is fantastic.  You can also use this recipe as a base and experiment with other flavors. It’s adapted from Ann Harmon’s “Home Harmony” column in Bee Culture (June 1998).

HONEY ALMOND BISCOTTI

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup honey (basic summer honey works well)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons anise seeds (sounds like a lot but is perfect amount!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup slivered almonds

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease one cookie sheet. Cream butter and honey until well-blended and light lemony color.  Add eggs one at a time and combine well.  Add vanilla and fully incorporate.

Whisk flour, cinnamon, anise, salt, baking powder and baking soda together and slowly add to batter.  Mix well.  Stir in almonds.

On a floured board, divide dough in half and form each half into 10x3x1 inch logs.  Place on cookie sheet, about 4 inches apart.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm to the touch.  Lower oven temp to 300 and cool logs for 5-10 minutes.  Slice on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices and place slice side down on cookie sheet.  Bake 10 minutes.  Flip cookies and bake 10 minutes more.  Cool completely on wire racks.  Store in a well-sealed tin.