Biscotti
Source: barnmom (by Corby Kummer in June 1987 issue of New Yorker magazine)
1 cup whole unblanched almonds
2 cups unsifted flour
1 cup sugar
1 level teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (Cindy's note - I use 1 T amaretto)
Roast the almonds for 10 to 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven until lightly browned.
Watch closely as they burn easily. Set the nuts aside to cool completely. Butter and flour a large cookie sheet. Lower the oven to 300 degrees.
Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl just to mix. Set aside half a cup of the mixture. In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs and vanilla. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the eggs. Stir in the flour from the sides. When too stiff to stir, turn out the gobs of dough onto a surface floured with some of the dry ingredient mix set aside. With floured hands fold the dough over itself until it coheres. Use the rest of the dry ingredient mix to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and work surface.
Press the nuts into the dough and keep folding it over itself until they are evenly distributed. Let the dough rest for a few minutes so that the flour will absorb the liquid and make it less sticky.
Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Rolling with your hands,elongate each piece into a strip about an inch wide and from twelve to fourteen inches long. When cut these will produce about four dozen cookies about three inches long.
Place the strips on the baking sheet, leaving at least four inches between them.
Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. Check your oven to make sure the temperature is correct and not hotter than you think.
Let them cool for 5 minutes. Remove from baking sheets with a spatula and transfer them to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife and decisive downward strokes, cut diagonal bars every half inch. Lay the cookies on their sides on two cookie sheets and put them back in the oven to toast for 35 to 50 minutes, depending on how dark you want them.
Cool on a rack.