Yet another British Bake Off inspired recipe here as part of my #TheGreatBeardedBakeOff . It was Biscuit week and I decided to tackle the signature bake task of “Biscotti”. In fact as I sit here typing this I’m dunking one into my customary strong morning coffee. A classic biscotti has a combination of fruit and nuts so I opted for apricots, dates and macadamia. Whilslt not a big fan of dried fruit I love aprocts in baked goods, and the dates were lying spare from a previous kitchen experiment. I included macadamia nuts as I think their smooth creaminess is massively under-rated. As for the Tonka bean? Well I had to put my. Mr. Mom’s stamp on them some how!?! What better way than with this little known exotic bean. I absolutely love it’s vanilla-like, heady fragrance and love to use it where I can. In fact so much do I adore the smell it’s even an ingredient in a couple of my colognes!
Apricot, Date & Tonka bean Biscotti
Makes 20-24
2 eggs
180g of caster sugar
300g of plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
85g dried apricots, chopped
85g dries dates, chopped
2 tonka beans, grated using a micro-plane
plain flour for dusting
Method
- Heat your oven to 150°C/Gas mark 2.
- Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and doubled in size.
- Add in the nuts, fruits, flour, baking powder and tonka bean until the mixture forms a dough.
- Tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a log shape. Divide the log into two, halfway along it’s length. With your hands lightly flatten logs 40mm wide x 20mm high.
- Place the logs on the lined baking sheet, bake for 12-15 minutes or until pale golden and firm.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and leave to cool for 10minutes. After this time cut the logs into slices (10-15mm thick) and lay them flat on a baking sheet and bake again for 10-15 minutes or until crisp.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Serve and enjoy with strong coffee or a glass of dessert wine.
Heady and fragrant- Tonka beans
Crumbs In My Beard 