One of my colleagues recently did me a huge favor at work and as a thank you I wanted to bake something to show my appreciation. I vaguely recalled her mention in passing that she loved a good biscotti so that's what I set out to make. Lucky for me I'd been hankering for an excuse to make these Almond Anise Biscotti I saw posted on Serious Eats a few weeks ago. The recipe comes from Stella Parks who is one of my baking Yodas. I seriously love everything she makes!
Anise is not a spice I normally gravitate towards in baking but in this case the hint of licorice flavor it provides to the biscotti is spot on - just subtle enough and not overpowering. A technique in this recipe that I'm definitely going to steal going forward is how the biscotti is shaped. The dough is rolled in to a log that extends to the full length of a half sheet pan. Doing this I think helps to ensure even thickness in the baked cookie.
To gild the lily even further I ended up dipping some of the biscotti in bittersweet chocolate. I tried tempering the chocolate using the seeding method but I'm not too convinced of how they turned out. They still taste great though!
