What Are Biscotti?
A convenient, portable, and durable staple for the Roman Legions. A sugared and spiced banquet food for the wealthy during the Renaissance. Today, biscotti are an everyday, any time delight enjoyed all over the world.
Biscotti are slightly-sweetened, twice-baked, plain or flavored, crisp and thin slices of bread. Narrowly-shaped, they are baked, cooled, sliced, and baked again at a lower temperature until they are dry and crisp.
Sweets, spices, nuts, and dried fruits allow for a near limitless number of biscotti flavors. And the addition or subtraction of baking powder, butter, oil, and eggs are often used to change the texture.
In Italy, biscotti are a traditional breakfast food served with milk enhanced with coffee, cocoa, or barley; or a dessert dunked in a glass of Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine.
Whether its breakfast, dessert, or a snack, biscotti are a great treat for many occasions, especially holidays. Try them today by themselves or dunked in your choice of beverage- milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate or wine.
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Biscotti Tips, Hints, and Ideas
Here are just a few recommendations to help you when baking, storing, and serving your biscotti:
Preparing Biscotti
- After the first bake be sure to let the log cool for a few minutes
- Make deliberate, firm cuts of your slices to prevent crumbling
- Place your slices cut-side down during the second bake to keep your biscotti crispy
- For chocolate or dried fruit biscotti, place slices upright, you just want them to dry during the second bake
Serving Biscotti
- Serve biscotti at breakfast or brunch with milk, coffee, or tea
- Dunk biscotti in a Vin Santo wine or hot chocolate for dessert
- Crumble biscotti over ice cream or frozen yogurt
- Serve biscotti with gelato
- Use your biscotti in a tiramisu recipe
Storing Biscotti
- Store your biscotti in an air-tight container at room temperature and they will last for a couple weeks
- Placing biscotti in a paper bag at room temperature for a couple of days can soften biscotti that is too dry
- Let chocolate-frosted biscotti sit at room temperature and harden before refrigerating to avoid a grayish-white chocolate color
- Wrap biscotti tightly in parchment paper and place in a freezer bag to freeze and they will last up to a month
- Reheating biscotti for 10 to 15 minutes at 300 degrees can freshen your biscotti's flavor
