This one today is for all you that still drink coffee in the summertime, sipping a hot cup o joe outside your neighborhood cafe or underneath your own home version of the sun’s heavy rays. Nothing else is like having a little snack during the fun, and the Italian twice baked cookies can be a treat (and a meal) in itself.

Photo by andreas hagerman

Biscotti

Makes about 30 cookies.

Ingredients

• 10 ounces bread flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 ounces white bread crumbs
• 4 ounces whole almonds, with skin
• 4 ounces whole hazelnuts, with skin
• 1/8 cup Orange Juice
• 1/2 tea. Orange flower water
• 1/2 tea. vanilla extract
• 2-3 eggs
• Egg wash
• Crystal sugar

Procedure

1. Combine Flour and baking soda and sift.
2. Add sugar and bread crumbs and combine at low speeds
3. Mix in almonds and hazelnuts. You can toast them before hand if you like that kind of flavor.
4. Combine orange juice, orange flower water, vanilla, and eggs and add to the dry gradually. Mix for about 1 minute or until dough is firm.
5. Separate dough into uniform halves for easier working and roll each half into a uniform rope, a little over a foot or so long.
6. Place ropes onto sheet pans lined with baking paper. Brush on egg wash and sprinkle with crystal sugar.
7. Bake at 350 F until golden (about 25 minutes).
8. Let cool. At least wait an hour but leaving them overnight will produce a better result.
9. Slice ropes into cookies on a diagona, placing the cut-side down on sheet pans lined with baking paper.
10. Bake 375 F until golden around the edges ( about 15 minutes).

Once cooled down you can dip them into melted chocolate for some added delight. Bo Friberg suggests in The Professional Pastry Chef that it is worthwhile to temper real chocolate instead of coating chocolate.

Cookies will last 2-3 weeks in an airtight container.

Now that we have our cookies and are ready to sit down with our coffees, lets take attention to this heat and the surrounding environment. Watch 350.org’s new cartoon made to spread awareness in stabilizing carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million.

If you are reading this in an email click here to watch.