Almond biscotti

You may not believe it, but this is the 2nd time I've baked biscotti! My 1st attempt was very very long ago and I remembered that that biscotti I baked was very hard! My mom was complaining abt it and from then on, I've not attempted biscotti again. However, my opinion of biscotti changed when Elyn passed me some she baked. It tasted very different from the one I did! LOL....

So I was looking for something to bake after x'mas and biscotti came to mind. and I wanted to seriously try out recipes in the one-too-many baking books I bought on a wimp. Finally settled on the Almond Biscotti recipe in "Baking, my Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. There's cornmeal in the recipe, which gave it a very good crunch. But me being me, I decided to use whole almonds instead of chopped ones, since I bought it whole (too lazy!)... I guess laziness had done me in this time. It was a huge mistake as I had such a hard time trying to cut the biscotti! Needless to say, many pieces cracked and I was so upset. :( Still I went on baking it the 2nd round, as I could feel that it'll turn out really good. I also added choc chips to it as it would tempt the kids to try it when they see chocolate.

Here's how mine turned out. Indeed it was really nice and crunchy. I'll bake another lot of these soon... and this time, use almond nibs! LOL...

ETA : Here's the recipe for those who are interested to give it a go.
Lenox Almond Biscotti
What you need

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 stick (113gm) of butter
• 1 cup sugar (I reduced it to 3/4 cup)
• 2 large eggs (I used 60gm eggs with shell)
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched

What to do

• Preheat oven to 170C. Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone sheet.
• Sift flour, baking powder, cornmeal and salt tog and whisk to blend. Set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar tog till light, add in eggs one at a time. Scraping down the bowl as needed and whisk till mixture is light, smooth and creamy (abt 2 mins). Beat in almond extract.
• Reduce mixer speed to low, add in dry ingredients and mix till incorporated. You'll have a sticky-to-finger dough.
• Scrape half the dough onto 1 side of the baking sheet, work the dough into a log abt 12 inches long and 1 1/2inches wide. Form a 2nd log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.
• Bake for 15mins, or until the logs are lightly golden brown but still soft and springy to touch. Remove baking sheet from oven and leave it to cool for abt 30mins.
• Cut the logs into 3/4in slices, line them cut-side up onto the baking sheet.
• Bake biscotti for another 15mins or so, till they are golden and firm. Transfer to cooling racks and store only when completely cooled.

Recipe adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours,by Dorie Greenspan, page 141.