Nut and Seed Biscotti Recipe
Thin, biscotti-style crackers densely pebbled with all manner of nuts and seeds - green pistachios, rust-toned hazelnuts, and off-black poppy seeds.
The other afternoon I set out to make thin, biscotti-style crackers. They were to be densely pebbled with all manner of nuts and seeds - green pistachios, rust-toned hazelnuts, and off-black poppy seeds. I envisioned nuts and seeds packed together like pebbles in concrete, with barely enough flour and egg to bind everything together. I'd double-bake them - first in a loaf pan, after which I'd slice them thinly. Then back in the oven on a baking sheet until crisp.
As with many cookies or crackers you can certainly experiment with shape. These make a nice, three-bite base for a generous slather of goat cheese topped with a bit of chutney. You could also incorporate any number of spices, herbs, or zests into the cracker dough, or experiment with your own medley of nuts and seeds. The next time I may slice them the long way - a bit more challenging, but I suspect it would result in an even more dramatic (while still being rustic) cracker.
The best of the best were the crackers I sliced thinnest. They had good snap, toasted up beautifully, and were notably better than their thicker counterparts. As I mention in the recipe, I used a serrated knife and a combination of two knife techniques. 1. A back-and-forth slicing motion (if there were lots of nuts at the surface of that partiular slice) 2. A fast and decisive single cut. But the real key to easy slicing is making sure the loaf is well baked through. Let me know if you end up making these with your own ingredient twists - you can post to the comments, or if you have pictures post them to the 101 Cookbook Flickr group.
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Nut and Seed Biscotti Recipe
My seed mixture was a blend of 1 cup lightly toasted hazelnuts, 1/3 cup each of lightly toasted walnuts, pistachio nuts, and pumpkin seeds, and 1 tablespoon poppy seeds. If you don't have white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour should work. I'm also anxious to try these with spelt flour to see how it goes.
1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds (see head notes)
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup natural cane sugar, fine grain
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 300F degrees. Rack in the middle. Lightly butter or oil a 1-pound loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, nuts and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add the flour-nut mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be quite thick. Scoop into the prepared pan and press the dough into place using damp fingertips. You want to be sure everything is nice and compact, level on top, with no air bubbles hiding in there. Bake for 45-50 minutes - or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult. Remove loaf from the oven, and turn the oven up to 425F.
Immediately run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the loaf, remove it from pan, and set the loaf upside down on a cutting board. Using a thin serrated knife (or the thinnest, sharpest knife you have), slice the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet. brush tops with a bit of olive oil and bake for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a touch golden and toasty. Pull them out of the oven, flip each one, and brush the other side with olive oil. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until nice and crisp. Let cool.
Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen.
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Comments
Have always loved biscotti, and now I get to try to make some. My home will smell heavenly !!! Thank you, and love your site !!!!
I find it is easier to slice biscotti if I chop up the nuts a bit before baking, esp. the hazelnuts.
I don't even know how to thank you Heidi. You are such an inspiration!
Do you think these can be made gluten free with GF all purpose flour??
It's a snowy day in NY and when I woke up to check my email, this recipe was there waiting for me! They looked great - I check the kitchen and had all the ingredients! (for my nut and seed mix I used - slivered almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and poppy seeds) They just finished cooling and I couldn't resist trying one - wow, they came out wonderful! Thanks so much for your inspiration!
I'll be giving these a try with whole wheat flour. I actually think it's whole wheat pastry flour that I have but I'm not sure. it's from my local produce strand and just says "whole wheat flour" but it looks lighter and finer, more like pastry. We'll see. Do these need so much sugar? I like my biscotti not so sweet and put sweet things on top. Perhaps honey?
These look great, but when you said barely enough egg and flour to bind them together I expected a lot less than 1 1/3 cup flour...? I will experiment with less flour and maybe grinding some extra seeds into meal and see what happens...
The biscotti look great. I love how you really packed in the nuts. @ Shanti: I have not tried millet flour yet but if I get my hands on some I think it sounds like a great way to make these wheat free. Thanks for the suggestion.
I have had great success using an electric knife for biscotti especially when using whole nuts. Am going to try making these as soon as I get home from work today! Thanks for the inspiration.
Looks delicious! I love the idea of incorporating all the nuts and seeds. I made a pistachio and dried cranberry version for Christmas which I have detailed on my blog: theripetomato.wordpress.com I don't like to double-bake for as long though, I prefer my biscotti a little softer. Wondering if you could make these into more of a savory application.... hmmm
These are just beautiful and they look crunchy! I'm going to make a variation using a non-glutenous flour.
Wonderful idea! I'll cook them next weekend. It will be my first time for Biscotti! yours seem so delicious...
Oooh, your nut/seed mixture looks luscious! One of my new seed discoveries is the Chia seed. Great nutrition and taste, and yep, they are the same seeds used for Chia Pets :-)
What a fantastic idea/concept! Usually the crackers are the base and not the flavor focus, but your biscotti-style crackers look beautiful and hearty, breaking free from the norm! Yum :)
These sound positively wonderful! I love making biscotti, and what a great transition from a treat with coffee to a cocktail snack. I am definitely going to make these.
thank you for giving the alternative to white whole wheat flour which we don't get here. now i can try these. i made niki's healthy cookies the other day because the ingredients were so basic and all at hand. the result was delicious. i am always glad when i have available ingredients to try your delicious recipes.
Très tentant, j'essaie et je te dis après !
These are beautiful. I like the simplicity of the recipe--very appealing. I'd had hit-and-miss experiences with biscotti: sometimes they turn out beautifully, sometimes they turn into a crumbly mess of nut shards. I'll be interested to try this recipe; hopefully it will be the former!
What non-wheat flour would work best? Love this nutty biscotti recipe, but like non-wheat options, if possible.
I'd like to try these with matzah cake meal for Passover. They probably won't taste as good as with spelt or whole wheat flour, but those grains together with rye, barley and oats are prohibited during Passover. Someone mentioned millet flour. Maybe I'll try that. Heidi, this sounds like fun AND not too complicated AND delicious. Thanks for the idea!
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