Almond Biscotti or “Can't they get these in New York?”

As an adult, I developed an allergy to dairy. Now, before you say, “Can't you take a pill?”, “What about lactaid?” it's not that type of allergy. For me consumption of dairy results in sinus congestion, sinus headaches, wheezing, throat congestion. You get the picture.

Therefore when my girlfriend, Sally, developed a dairy free recipe for biscotti and fed me the results, I immediately asked for the recipe.

I would be a liar if I said I didn't approach this recipe with trepidation. Drop cookies and bar cookies are my forte. Where biscotti all seem to have a uniform shape, making these for the first time was a bit nerve-racking for me. The second time was much easier as the mystery of getting these cookies into the right shape was solved.

This has become a beloved recipe amongst friends, family and colleagues from as far as away as New York City. Thankfully, this cookie travels well even if the clerk at the local post office quizzically asks, “Can't they get these in New York?” “Yes,” I reply. “However, they're not as good.”

Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti - yield: approximately 18 cookies.

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup almond slivers (I recommend Trader Joe's unsalted, dry toasted slivered almonds)

Place oven rack on middle setting. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

Cover 15” x 10” or larger cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Dust foiled cookie sheet with flour. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, combine sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Add flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. When partially mixed, add almond slivers. Continue mixing. Batter should become very stiff.

Halve batter while still in bowl. Roll or shape dough into two logs, approximately 10” long and 1” thick on prepared cookie sheet.

Two logs of biscotti batter, 

ready for baking

Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for up to 10 minutes. Cut logs into ¾-inch diagonal slices, setting each slice on its side. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove biscotti from oven. Turn each cookie on its other side. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool, serve and store.

Cutting log on diagonal 

 Biscotti ready for more baking