Gingerbread biscotti

On Christmas Eve, after the bustle and the hustle of present wrapping, putting out a mince pie for Santa, fighting with the over-excited offspring, and mixing the stuffing you can finally relax and sit down. With a large cup of hot chocolate or a goblet of dessert wine – and one of these.

You will discover how awesomely dunkable they are, even if you’re not much of a dunker. You’ll find sweet wine is an ideal beverage to sip with them or dip in. You’ll be amazed at how the gingery spiciness of a not-too-sweet biscuit perfectly fits the hush of tonight and the anticipation of the following day.

When to have gingerbread biscotti?

That’s not to say you are only to have gingerbread biscotti on Christmas Eve – au contraire, or should I say tutt'altro! They are a fitting snack to have with any beverage (except perhaps mojitos and such like) as long as the Christmas period lasts.

What are 'biscotti'?

Biscotti, whose name has been bastardised to encompass a plethora of various small bakes, mean ‘twice cooked’. That means biscotti are the only true biscuits that ever exist, and all the other biscuits are not really biscuits. Therefore we should give some credit to the Americans who call their confections ‘cookies’.

I had never been very big on biscotti. What is the point of turning slices of a soft fresh cake dry, hard and stale? Of course, it all goes back to preserving and making food – and snacks – last longer. And the slices look pretty, being usually studded with nuts, chocolate or fruit, and that’s a good enough raison d’être, at least for Italians.

To dunk or not to dunk?

Neither am I of the dunking tribe so a cake hard and dry enough to suck up coffee/tea/chocolate has not had any appeal to me. But as you have surmised, I have changed my mind somewhat. Perhaps you won’t see me baking biscotti every week, but they do deserve a spot and a moment – and for me that moment is the eve of Christmas.

How to make biscotti dough?

The dough for biscotti is exceedingly simple: no fat, (I think the butter addition makes the difference between cantucci and biscotti) but only the base of eggs, sugar and flour with any additions you might want. I wanted the gingerbread spices and relied on the traditionally added mixed nuts.

I have consulted the greats: Nigella Lawson and Theo Randall to work out my recipe. The mixing is super easy: whisk the eggs into sugar or honey, stir in flour and that’s it. Make sure you add enough spice – nothing more disappointing than bland gingerbreads.

How to bake biscotti?

The only slightly tricky moment is the first baking: the biscotti (at that stage should we call them unocotti?) log must be cooked through, otherwise the finished slices will be hard, but not crunchy or brittle enough. As long as it doesn’t brown too much, err on the side of longer baking.

The coating with cinnamon sugar is optional, but it’s a nice touch.