i'm new to this forum, so i don;t knwo what went wrong. This is supposed to be a reply to the biscotti posting. I tried once but it didn;t post. here it is again
Biscotti means twice-cooked. So no way you can not cook the loaf, since that's the way they're done. Biscotti also is used just to mean cookies, but it seems the type you're looking to make are the kind they sell in the states, at coffee places. Never ran into them in italy, but anyway. I have a good recipe for what are called "cantucci" or "tozzetti" which are the famous umbrian/tuscan hard cookies with whole almonds which you are served after dinner with sweet wine, for dunking. But these are the real thing.
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup whole almonds
2 tbsp butter
4 eggs
salt 1/8 tsp
cinnamon 1 tsp
1/2 tsp baking soda
mix butter and sugar and 4 eggs - add flour, salt, cinnamon and soda. mix together and add almonds. mix in.
form into 4 or 5 loaves, about the length of a hand and about three fingers wide.
grease and flour baking sheets.
bake till solid but still somewhat soft (though not wet inside).
remove from oven and slice into slices about a finger in width
lay flat on sheets and bake again until hard.
I used to make these for a restaurant in rome and they were a big success. Sorry the directions are so approximate - all recipes here are like that. But it;s hard to go wrong
use a sharp THIN knife to cut them, and always use a sawing motion. serrated is ok, as long as it's a good quality serrated knife with a thin blade, not the usual supermarket thing. otherwise a non serrated sharp thin blade will work
