Growing up I always considered biscotti to be at the high end of the biscuit scale, so it seemed like a luxury treat I was never able to experience. When I was old enough to give a recipe a go myself, I fell in love with the humble biscotti and began experimenting with different flavour combinations. Although the Neapolitan concept in food or baking may not be new, or the flavours may not blow you away, I still think this Neapolitan Biscotti looks absolutely stunning.
The flavours are subtle, the colours are bold and it will definitely complement your favourite hot drink (or simply devour it as it is!). So give this recipe a go, it’s beautiful appearance will be a delicious head turner!
NEAPOLITAN BISCOTTI
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 12-15
Ingredients
- 320g Plain Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Butter - Room Temp
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 10g Cocoa Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Strawberry Essence
- Pink Food Colouring
Instructions
- Flick your oven on and preheat to 180 degrees. After that, line a baking tray with baking paper.
- In a large bowl add the butter, flour, baking powder and sugar. Rub together with your fingertips until you end up with a fine breadcrumb texture.
- Slightly beat the eggs and add them to the bowl along with the vanilla extract.
- Mix together until mixture starts to form a dough.
- Turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough slightly, add more flour if too sticky.
- Cut the dough into three segments and separate, placing two of the segments in smaller individual bowls and keeping one segment as is. This one will be the vanilla element.
- To one of the segments, add the cocoa powder and mix/knead through the dough to create the chocolate element.
- To the second segment, add the strawberry essence and desired amount of pink colouring and again mix through the dough. The dough will become wetter, so add more flour to obtain original dough texture. This will be the strawberry element.
- On a floured surface roll out the three colours with your hands until each about 20cm long.
- Plait the three strands together and then roll plaited dough once more to form one smooth log shape.
- Place on baking sheet and bake for around 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly, around 10-15 minutes.
- Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on an angle at about 10-15mm slices.
- Lay slices down flat on the same baking tray and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until biscotti has dried out. You may want to flip biscotti over half way through.
- Keep an eye on it, and when you feel it's ready, take it out of the oven to cool.
- Enjoy this biscotti either by itself or by dipping it into your favourite hot drink!
Leave a Reply