Biscotti da Te' (Tea Biscuit)
Makes 36
This is such a useful biscuit recipe. It is not overly sweet.
300 g softened butter
150 g icing sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
450 g plain flour
2 tablespoon cocoa (optional)
for garnish: melted chocolate, glace’ cherries
METHOD
Using an electric beater, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Gradually incorporate the sugar and beating all the while, add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the salt, baking powder and vanilla essence. Add the flour a little a a time on low speed. To make chocolate tea biscuits add the cocoa to half the flour.
Using a piping bag with a large star nozzle, put in about one quarter of the dough. Pipe rounds, batons or horseshoe shapes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Put half a cherry in the centre of the circles. Bake at 170C for 18 minutes or until the biscuits are golden. Allow to cool on a rack. Dip the ends of the batons and horseshoe shapes into the melted chocolate and leave them on the rack to set.
Useful tip: to stop the baking paper from slipping, pipe a tiny amount of dough on each corner of the tray then put down the paper on top.
