Daddio's Biscotti

A family classic

This week, as we (pant, pant) countdown to the biggest celebration in the December calendar, that day all of us are preparing for, the one day that unites all humankind—and by this, of course, I mean my brother David’s birthday.

I kid, of course. There is a certain impish quality to being a baby sister that never goes away, no matter that I wear progressive lenses and enjoy eating bran-rich, sugar-free cereal.

Truth is, the last week in December was always a big deal in my house, with Oldest Brother’s birthday just before Christmas, then grand Christmas Day celebrations befitting the Ethical Culture Jews we were, and a few days later my dad’s birthday. If Hanukkah fell over Christmas, well, that was just whipped cream on top of it all.

Perhaps this won’t surprise any of you, but instead of a cake on my dad’s big day, we had cookies. Or as he in his Viennese-I’ll-make-a-diminutive-out-of-anything-way used to sometimes call them: “cooksies.” As in, “Marissa, will you make more more cooksies?”

Sometimes we had vanilla kipferln (the recipe I’ll share later this week), and once I figured this recipe out about 20 years ago, these: Daddio’s Biscotti. He called me “Binky,” when he was writing me notes, and I called him “Daddio.”

(And yes, I do miss him very very very much and now I shall stop writing about him before I get all teary.)

(This was my dad’s cookie jar!)

These are quiet, unassuming cookies. They don’t scream their flavors at you or insist you take a photo of them and post it to Instagram. They are insistent little buggers though, who seem to tap, tap, tap you on the arm until you eat another one, and so on, until many more than you thought possible are gone.

I’m not sure how they do it. Is it with their subtle orange flavor? The occasional sweet bite of pistachio? The chocolate chunks surely help. Maybe it’s the soft, crumbling crunch.

These were one of my dad’s favorite cookies (or “cooksies” and we’d often call them). I would show up at his house in his later years and he’d look up at me from the New York Times (which he spent three hours reading each day) and say “More?” Other times the cookie jar would be waiting for me, empty, on the kitchen table, a not-so-subtle hint.

I think of him every time I eat one. I still have the cookie jar and now and fill it for my husband, who is as enamored of these biscotti as my dad was.

This is a cookie to make your own. For this version I chose to use orange extract and zest, pistachios, golden raisins and dark chocolate chips. I often make them with lemon oil, lemonzest, slivered almonds and dried cranberries. Or with vanilla, dried cherries and chocolate chunks. Play around. Let me know what combos you try.

Daddio’s Biscotti

This recipe makes 24 cookies. I always double the recipe.

What You’ll Need:

4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 tablespoon (or more) grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange oil or orange extract*

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup unsalted pistachios (you know, without shells)

1/2 cup golden raisins

12 ounces dark chocolate chips (This is an unpaid promotion, but I use Guittard)

What You’ll Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3. In a stand/with a hand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, zest, vanilla and extract/oil until light and fluffy. (Remember, light and fluffy are not just words we throw around here in Baking Land. They mean something. It means the mixture should lighten in color and look fluffier. You love me. You know you love me.)

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If you haven’t listened and your butter or eggs were a little cold, the mixture may look like scrambled eggs, as it’s harder for the egg to bind with butter that’s a different temperature. It will still taste nice in the end, don’t fret.

5. Add the flour and slowly incorporate on low speed until just combined. Dump in all the other tasty things you’ve chosen to add to the biscotti and mix on medium until evenly incorporated.

6. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a disc. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for an hour, or up to two days.

7. On a lightly-floured surface, divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a long rectangle about 10 inches long, a 1/2-inch high and 2 1/2 inches wide, give or take. The shaping of the dough will require some patting, squeezing and more patting. You don’t want to get too aggressive doing this. You could pretend you have cat paws, if that helps.

8. Carefully transfer each rectangle of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 3 inches between the logs, as these spread. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they turn pale golden and are slightly firm to the touch (it should be cooked through and feel cake-like). Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on the stove for 5 minutes. On a clean cutting board (no old flour hanging around), slice the dough into 1-inch slices. I use a serrated knife. Arrange cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until deep golden. I like mine a little more on the toasty side. You do you.

9. While the biscotti are getting tan in the oven, eat the crumbs from the biscotti that fell apart when you were cutting them.

10. Cool on a rack. Dip in chocolate if you wish.

NB: Remember oils tend to be stronger in flavor than extracts. As written here, with orange extract, the resulting cookie is very mild in flavor. I equally love them made with a more in-your-face orange or lemon oil (I use Boyajian).