Amando's biscotti

You will want to make this wonderful Italian recipe for sweet twice-baked biscuits time after time. From chef Armando Percuoco, and made by his pastry chef Alessandra Rispoli, these biscotti are scented with orange, lemon, lime, vanilla and liqueur.

• makes

  40

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 600 g plain flour
• 600 g caster sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt 
• 100 g flaked almonds
• 100 g pistachios
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 2 oranges, zest grated
• 2 lemons, zest grated 
• 2 limes, zest grated
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 60 ml (¼ cup) pernod, sambucca or other liqueur of choice

Chilling time 30 minutes

Instructions

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nuts, vanilla seeds and citrus zest in a large bowl and stir together. Add the eggs, egg yolks and liqueur and mix until well combined. Roll into logs around 4 cm wide and place on buttered trays. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. (You can refrigerate for longer if it suits, just wrap the logs with plastic wrap so they don't dry out.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the logs in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Thinly slice the logs, return the slices to the trays and bake for another 5 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake the biscotti as they can become too hard. Store in an airtight container.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.