Spicyicecream

Donna Hay’s Vanilla & Almond Biscotti

If you asked me to pick a favourite homemade cookie, I’d say Donna Hay’s Biscotti would be right up there. This was one of the first recipes I ever published here on the blog all the way back in 2007, and I still love it. I make it exactly the same way to this day. I could never get tired of these crunchy, nutty biscuits that are perfect with a cup of coffee for afternoon tea. Luckily, this recipe makes about 40, because it’s impossible to stop at just one.

The original Vanilla and Almond Biscotti recipe came from my favourite Donna Hay cookbook, which will always have a special place in my heart. Donna Hay is Australian cookbook royalty and I learned a lot from trying her recipes over and over. Modern Classics was one of my most loved books when I first started learning how to bake. I swear, I’ve cooked most of the recipes from it in the years since!

So, what are Biscotti?

Biscotti are crunchy biscuits that originated in Tuscany. When translated from Italian, the word means ‘twice baked’ which perfectly describes the process of making these. They come together with a few basic pantry ingredients like flour, sugar and baking powder, combined with vanilla, eggs and almonds. You might even have everything you need already on hand!

The more traditional Italian version of these biscuits uses eggs and no butter for a crunchier biscuit – the perfect accompaniment to dip into dessert wine or coffee. But a quick Google search also finds an Americanised version that contains butter and often more sugar and chocolate. They’re still crunchy, but eaten more like a traditional cookie.

The dough is formed into two log shapes and then baked for the first time. When cooled, it’s sliced and baked again to form the crunchy cookies. My biggest tip is to allow the baked logs to cool before trying to slice them, otherwise they will be too crumbly.

Also using a serrated knife is key. I’m pretty terrible at cutting things straight, but just go slow and try to keep them as even as possible. It doesn’t matter if they’re not completely perfect. I’m all about that home-made rustic vibe.

This is also a really adaptable recipe. Try using different nuts like hazelnuts or pistachios or your favourite dried fruit. You can also change up flavourings like citrus zest, spices or vanilla. In fact, I have published several variations over the years, like this Sour Cherry and Cocoa Nib version. I love them all but this classic combination of Vanilla and Almonds will always have my heart.

The chocolate dip or drizzle is optional but highly recommended! I used a 70% dark chocolate but depending on the flavours you’ve used, white chocolate could be lovely too. I hope you’ll give Donna Hay’s Biscotti a try next time you feel like baking!

Related Post: Chai, Fig and Almond Biscotti

Donna Hay’s Vanilla and Almond Biscotti

Donna Hay's Vanilla and Almond Biscotti are crunchy biscuits made with simple pantry ingredients and are delicious with a cup of coffee!

Course Dessert

Keyword Cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 40 biscotti

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup almonds
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F).
Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Add sugar and almonds and stir together. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to form a dough. Divide the dough in two.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead each piece until smooth. Shape into logs and flatten slightly.
Place the logs on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely. If not completely cool, it will be crumbly when you slice it.
Cut the logs into 5mm thick slices with a serrated knife and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the biscotti are crisp. Store in an airtight container and serve with espresso or liqueur.

Lunch Order

When I was a kid, the list of foods I didn’t like was almost longer than the list of foods I did like! Eating is about looks as much as taste, so some of my food prejudices were based purely on how things looked. Other foods had bad experiences attached. This lasagne is a combination of three things that I wouldn’t touch as a child, but that I now love.

My first lasagne experience was a strange one. Schools in Australia don’t have cafeterias. A few good-hearted mums help out in the canteen, making sandwiches, serving hot food, and selling bags of lollies for 10 cents. For a primary school kid, a ‘lunch order’ was a big deal, because most of the time, you brought a sandwich from home. One day, when I was about 6 in first grade, I got lasagne for my lunch order. But it was absolutely foul, and it actually made me throw up. Imagine my disappointment! The sacred lunch order had been ruined, and I had nothing else to eat for lunch. It honestly took me nearly ten years to eat lasagne again. But one day I was game enough to try it again at a nice Italian restaurant. Now I love it, and I love making it.

Ricotta cheese is a funny thing for me, because I don’t mind the taste, but the texture is very off-putting. My family likes the ricotta filled ravioli with a tomato and garlic sauce, and even now I ask my mum to cook me up a little bit of spaghetti instead. Soggy, waterlogged ricotta is just not nice. However, in other forms, it is very tasty, and so versatile. It can be used in sweet or savoury dishes, from pasta to cupcakes, to just spread on nice crusty bread.

And as for spinach, do you know any child that likes spinach? I think I was mainly put off by the stigma that surrounds it, we didn’t have it at home very often and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now I cook with it often, and really enjoy it.

This lasagne marries the ricotta and spinach in a moist and tasty, yet not too heavy dish. Additions such as bacon or pine nuts would be excellent too. It’s hardly an original combination, I know, but this recipe is my own, and one of my first. I am looking forward to experimenting and developing more of my own recipes in the near future.

Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne

• ½ bunch silverbeet or 1 bunch English spinach
• 500g ricotta cheese
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 ½ tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 packets instant lasagne sheets
• mozzarella and parmesan cheese

White Sauce
• 80g butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 600mL milk
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (390°F) and line a large baking dish with baking paper.
2. Blanch the spinach for 30 seconds, then drain and squeeze to remove excess liquid. Chop finely.
3. Place spinach in a bowl with ricotta, breadcrumbs and parsley and mix to combine. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, place the butter. When it is fully melted, stir in the flour, and when combined, add the milk. Whisk until it is smooth and starts to thicken, then reduce heat. Add salt and pepper. Do not let the sauce become too thick.
5. I like to pre-cook my lasagne sheets, even though the packets say it is not necessary. I use a large saucepan with salted, boiling water, cooking 2-3 lasagne sheets at a time for about 5 minutes.
6. Assemble the lasagne, with the lasagne sheets, a thin layer of the spinach and ricotta mixture, some of the white sauce and cheese. Continue this order, and finish with a decent amount of white sauce and cheese on top, with some cracked black pepper.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of your lasagne dish. Serve with salad.

How Quaint

Ever since we had to do a corporate identity for a tearoom at college last year, I have been a little obsessed with the thought of high tea. Fine china, elegant teacups and dainty little cakes and scones with jam and cream. However, the usage of the term as we know it today is historically incorrect. High tea was the name of the early evening meal, often with savoury food, eaten as a combination afternoon/evening meal. Afternoon tea is the proper name.

Afternoon tea was a big deal to the ladies of 19th century Britain. The tearoom used to be a place that wealthy women were allowed to socialise with each other, unaccompanied by their husbands. Tearooms became more common when tea became more affordable to the lower classes. It is kind of a forgotten ritual these days, but I often find that at I’m feeling a little flat and I just need a cup of tea at about 3.30pm.

These scones were made to take to my nanna’s place this afternoon. I went over for a music lesson, followed by afternoon tea. How quaint! She was very impressed by their light and fluffy texture, and the way they split perfectly in half just waiting for a slathering of jam and a dollop of cream. Her preference was for apricot and mine for plum, and both were delicious. I felt like a real lady, sipping tea and nibbling scones, talking about perfect cadences and Handel’s operas.

Scones
Recipe adapted from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2
Makes about 24 small scones

• 2 cups thickened cream
• ½ cup milk
• 3 cups plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2-3 tablespoons caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Whisk the cream and milk together until soft peaks form
3. Sift flour and baking powder, add sugar and stir to combine
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and press out the dough until about 3cm thick. Cut into small rounds (4-5cm) and place on baking tray, with 2cm between each
5. Brush the tops of each scone with a little milk.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until scones are puffed and golden.
7. Serve warm with jam and cream

National Dish

There are few things more Aussie than a meat pie. Unless it’s a meat pie consumed while wearing shorts and thongs after playing a game of cricket on the beach, or in your mate’s quiet street. Or eaten during half-time at the footy and washed down with a beer.

The humble meat pie is an Australian icon – a beacon of hope whether you’re hungry or hungover – wrapped in pastry and smothered in tomato sauce (no ketchup in sight!) Mashed potatoes, peas and gravy sometimes make an appearance. When done properly, it is a beautiful thing.

But sadly, it is not too often that a meat pie is truly done properly. Meat pies are mass-produced and sold frozen, with who knows what inside. There have been horror stories of scary meat pie surprises, if the fat content alone wasn’t enough to turn a girl off them.

It had been a long time since I had a pie. When I was flicking through my copy of Donna Hay’s Modern Classics 1, the perfect golden pastry of her meat pie caught my eye. Reading the recipe, I thought, now this is more like it! Lean steak, cubed and stewed in red wine and stock, thickened later into delicious meaty gravy. I added bacon, but anything goes – mushrooms, vegetables, small cubes of potato. This was my first attempt at a pie from scratch ever and it worked out beautifully.

Meat Pie
Recipe adapted from Donna Hay

Shortcrust Pastry
• 2 cups flour
• 145g cold butter
• 5-7 tablespoons cold water

• Puff Pastry (I used store bought)

Pie Filling
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 ½ onions, chopped
• 1 kg blade steak, cut into small cubes
• 6 rashers bacon, finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons flour or cornflour
• ¼ cup water
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

1. To make the filling, heat the oil in a saucepan or large frying pan over high heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes, until soft. Add bacon and cook until crispy, then add the meat and cook until brown.
2. Add the tomato paste, stock, wine and Worcestershire sauce to the pan and simmer, uncovered for one hour or until the meat is tender.
3. In the meantime, make shortcrust pastry. In a stand mixer (with hook attachment) or food processor, mix flour and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add enough cold water, and mix until the dough is smooth and comes away from the bowl. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Blend the cornflour/flour and water to a smooth paste. Add it to the beef mixture while it is simmering rapidly on high heat. Stir until the mixture has thickened and returned to a simmer. Add salt and pepper and then set aside to cool.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)
6. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface to 3mm. Cut out pie bases (1 large and four small, or 6 medium). Blind bake for 20 minutes. Remove baking weights and spoon in the filling. Roll out the puff pasty and cut out lids for each pie.
7. Place on top and press edges of the pastry together. Brush the tops with the egg and make a slit in the tops.
8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Serve with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy.

Recipe Index

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So, what are Biscotti?

Donna Hay’s Vanilla and Almond Biscotti

Ingredients

Instructions

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