Five Spice Biscotti Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Position rack in center of oven. With a small knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and place in a small bowl. Add the sugar and use your fingers to mix the vanilla evenly into the sugar. Set aside. With an electric mixer, cream the butter until light. Add the vanilla sugar and mix until fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and almonds and stir into the butter mixture.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 3 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, shape each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Place the logs on the baking sheet, spacing them as far apart as possible. Bake in the center of the oven until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
• Place the logs on a cutting board and let them cool slightly. With a serrated knife, cut the logs on the diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Place on the baking sheet, cut side down. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes, turning once. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and sugar in the work bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large bowl and hand-held electric beaters). Cream butter and sugar at high speed until pale, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Beat in lemon zest and almond and vanilla extracts.
• In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. At low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture. As dough is coming together, add the pistachios and mix until incorporated. You will have a soft, sticky dough.
• Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. With floured hands, shape each piece into a log about 12 inches long. Place logs well apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (Logs will spread as they bake.)
• Bake logs for 25 to 30 minutes, until firm and lightly browned all over. Remove and cool logs on a rack until cool enough to handle. (Don't rush this step or you risk crumbling when slicing.) Using a serrated knife, carefully cut into slices, crosswise or at a diagonal. Thicker 1/2-inch slices are easier to cut; thinner slices are a bit more elegant.
• Place slices in one layer on baking sheet and return to the oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes (less for thinner slices). Flip each slice and bake again for another 5 minutes. Let cool completely, until biscotti are crisp and dry, before transferring to a tin.

Steps:

• Place a small skillet over medium heat. Add spices and toast, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and set aside to cool. If using the whole spices for a braise, they are ready to go.
• To make the spices into a powder, use a spice grinder, clean coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle to grind the spices until fine. If you like, you can strain the mix through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any coarse bits, but this is optional. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F & grease two baking sheets.
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar & spices, then add melted butter & stir well.
• In another bowl, mix together 3 1/3 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt & almonds.
• Add half of this flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring well with a wooden spoon.
• Add 2nd half of flour mixture & stir until a smooth dough forms, adding a tablespoon or two of flour if the dough seems too tacky. With floured hands, you should be able to form a small piece of dough into a ball.
• Form half of the dough into a large log & place it on one of the greased baking sheets, then flatten the log until it is 5-6 inches wide & 10 inches long. Do the same with the 2nd half of the dough, using the second baking sheet.
• Bake the logs for 35 minutes, until logs are firm but give slightly when pressed with a finger.
• Remove baking sheets from the oven & reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
• While logs are still warm, use a large spatula to carefully transfer them to a cutting board, & cut them crosswise on a slight diagonal, into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
• Lay the cookies on their sides on the baking sheets & bake them 15 minutes more.
• Remove from the oven & let cookies cool on a wire rack.
• Store in an airtight container, up to 2 weeks.