Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Blueberry and Almond Biscotti


Biscotti are generally not my thing. Too crunchy for my cookie tastes. These traditional Italian cookies are known for their crunchiness through a two step baking process. In the spirit of trying new things as a part of Sweet Melissa Sundays I gave it a go. Drumroll please....

The biscotti are delicious! I'm so glad that I tried these. The almonds, dried fruit and lemon zest are a wonderful blend of flavors. Melissa's recipe calls for dried sour cherries, but I saw a bag of dried blueberries at Costco that I just couldn't pass up. They worked perfectly in the recipe.

I let the dough rest for just under an hour and it was sticky rolling into the logs. But a light dusting of flour took care of it. I was a bit unsure of what the 2 logs should look like in terms of width and thickness...so I made them about 3 inches wide, 1 inch thick and 14 or so inches long. They spread in the oven to about 5 inches wide. The first round of baking went perfectly with lightly golden dough. After the logs cooled I scored them into 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick cookies with a serated knife. To get the biscotti equal in size I placed the end of my index finger on the side of the knife blade so measure 1 knuckle from the previous slice.

I had my first taste of one of the end pieces that wasn't big enough to make the second baking. I was immediately hooked on the flavors! The lemon was bright in flavor and the almond extract gives it a that special twist. So good! I almost didn't want to do the second baking.


Round 2 of baking resulted in slighly browner biscotti than I was hoping for. Next time, and there WILL be a next time, I will reduce the temp in my oven slightly and bake for only 45 minutes. I have to say I preferred the cookie after the first baking...I almost felt some of the brightness of the flavors, especially the lemon zest faded more into the background after the second baking.

Another variation I might try is forming the dough into a log and slicing off round cookies and going for only one round of baking. I have a whole lot of dried blueberries to use up! ;)

Thank you Tracey for selecting this amazing recipe! This one is truly a keeper. For the recipe check out Tracey's site, Tray by Tray. See what other SMS bakers did this week by clicking here.


Up next Sunday...Chocolate Walnut Brownies.

14 comments:

  1. LOVE that you used blueberry. They look perfect :)

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  2. OOH a blueberry variation - sounds YUMMMM. I'm glad you decided to give these a try even though you're not a biscotti person. What a nice surprise that you wound up loving them!

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  3. I think these would be awesome with blueberries. Great change! They look beautiful.

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  4. I love the idea of using dried blueberries! Your cookies are gorgeous and look delish!

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  5. These look delicious. And using blueberries instead is genius in my opinion (being a huge blueberry fan myself).

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  6. Gorgeous pics Gloria! I always, always walk by the bag of dried blueberries in the store thinking I should buy them, but I haven't yet. Soon :) I bet they were terrific in these biscotti. Great ideas for the next time you make these. It seems like a lot of people thought they were perfect after the first baking.

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  7. Great pictures! We love those Costco dried blueberries too!

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  8. What a wonderful subsitution. Blueberries and lemons are a match made in heaven... and in these biscotti :)

    Great pics!

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  9. Your biscotti look wonderful! Blueberries, lemon, and almond sound like a divine combination. I love how adaptable this recipe is; I definitely will make it again too.

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  10. I thought of doing the log-sliced cookies as well. The dough is SO GOOD, but it does seem to lose some of its flavor as it gets crunchier. Glad you ended up liking them though!

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  11. I would have never thought about blueberries and biscotti at the same time. These look yummy!

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  12. Love the photo of the biscotti popping out of the mug.

    Carmen

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