Biscotti (plural of Italian biscotto, roughly meaning "twice baked") are crisp
Italian cookies often containing nuts or flavored with
anise. Traditionally, biscotti are made by baking cookie dough in two long slabs, cutting these into slices, and reheating them to dry them out. A basic recipe is a mix two parts
flour with one part
sugar with enough
eggs to create a stiff batter. To the mixture
baking powder and flavorings such as anise,
chocolate, or
nuts are added. The slabs are baked once for about twenty-five minutes. They are then cut up into individual cookies and baked again for a shorter period. The longer this second baking is, the harder the cookies will be. Originally the cookies were twice-baked so they could be stored for long periods of time; because of this storage potential, they historically have been used widely by explorers and soldiers.
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