Brenda's Easy Biscotti

My late friend, Brenda, and I would always include a recipe in cards and notes that we sent to each other. What a fun way to remember our friendship... each time we make her recipes! This is one of my favorites.

Prep & baking time: 1 hour from start-to-finish
Serves: Approximately 16

Main Ingredients:

• 1 box cake mix (Butter Pecan is the best!)
• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Decoration Ingredients:

• course sugar (decoration)
• bag of chocolate/white chips or almond bark (optional decoration)

Instructions:

Part 1 - Dough prep + 1st round of baking

• Preheat oven to 350
• Mix Main Ingredients together (set aside Decoration Ingredients for later use)
• Separate dough into 2 globs and place on a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet
• Form each dough glob into a rectangle shape (about 6" x 7") and flatten to approximately 3/4 - 1" thick
• Sprinkle with course sugar
• Bake 25-30 minutes 




Add all ingredients together.



Mix until ingredients turn into a nice dough.

Form into a blob and cut equally in half.



For large biscotti, form into two rectangles  6" wide by 7" long by 3/4" thick (shown above)
For small biscotti, form into two rectangles 4" wide by 14" long by about 1/4" thick. (shown below)

Don't forget to sprinkle decorative sugar on top before baking.

Part 2 - Cool, cut, rollover, and toast 

• Remove from oven
• Let cool to the touch (this is important to firm it up so its easier to cut)
• Cut into 1" wide slices (a thin serrated fruit knife works best - or other thin serrated blade -  less breakage. It is literally like sawing through dry crust. Be careful at the edges.)
• Gently tip-over slices on their cut side and arrange in pan so they are not touching (this will help them toast evenly)
• Bake slices 8-10 minutes

 

Let Biscotti cool to the touch before slicing or it will crumble.
Use a ruler or tape measure to mark off lines at 1 inch on each side. Use a ruler or straight edge for a cutting guide.

 

After you 'saw' through the Biscotti, use a small metal spatula to loosen each piece from the pan.

 

Gently lay them on their side. You will get some breakage near the ends especially if you have included pecans.

And yes, you will have a lot of crumbs, don't worry about them, they won't burn.

Part 3 - Rollover and toast (again)

• Remove from oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes (This is important! If you flip them right away, they are flimsy hot out of the oven. Letting them cool will firm them up so they flip easier - again, less breakage)
• Turn each slice over to toast the opposite side
• Return to oven
• Bake slices 8-10 minutes

Part 4 - The grand finale

• Remove from oven
• Let cool 1-2 minutes
• Remove from pan to finish cooling
• Decorate -- or just share and eat!

Decorating tips

• Melt a bag of chocolate chips / or white chocolate chips / or almond bark / etc according to directions on bag
• Dip the biscotti 1/2 way (either the cut edge or the long way)
• Or, put melted chocolate in piping bag (or ziploc w/ corner cut off) and drizzle designs over the top 
• Set on wax paper to set up

Other tips

• Any cake batter works well, but we found chocolate to be a little more dry. Use a little less flour to remedy this.