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Biscotti (Carquinyolis)

A very good friend of mine in London recently passed this recipe on to me with the caveat that I report back and send her photographs of the finished product. Well it worked and for a while I became slightly obsessed.  I literally found myself making biscotti into the night trying out different flavour combinations.  They are so simple to make with incredibly satisfying results. The jar of biscotti that features here I then gave as a gift at a dinner party, receiving ooohs & aaahs all round… I think that’s my ultimate cooking pleasure and why I seem to be constantly entertaining, I thrive on the appreciation and the more I get the more it makes me want to go straight back in the kitchen and produce something even better.  Anyway, I hasten to add that you really do have to try these; they are especially delicious dunked in coffee.

The word Biscotti is derived from the latin ‘bis’ & ‘cotto’ literally meaning twice-baked, they are traditionally Italian, but many countries have since adopted their own versions seems, in Spain Carquinolis!

Biscotti
[makes 25-ish]

Ingredients for dough:

125g (4oz) plain flour
125g (4oz) caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg (lightly beaten)

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl, add the egg a bit at a time until it comes together into a dough, if too dry add more egg, if too wet dust with a little more plain flour.

Ingredients to flavour:
Options are endless, but some of my tried & tested combinations are as follows:

Dark chocolate & pistachio (make sure to use unsalted pistachios)
White chocolate, glace cherry & almond flakes
Almond & cherry (use whole or crushed blanched, skinless, unsalted almonds)
Amaretto & Almond (Amaretto is a sweet almond-flavoured liqueur that just gives a bit more of a flavour kick)

Add your chosen ingredients to the dough and divide into a few pieces before rolling into sausage shapes about 3cm diameter and laying out on parchment paper on a baking tray about 6cm apart. Lightly flatten, but not too much they spread whilst cooking!


Bake in preheated oven at 180C (350F) for 20-30mins until golden, remove and wait 10 mins to firm up.  Reduce oven to 140C (275F) and with serrated knife, cut biscotti on an angle into 1cm slices and return to oven on laid sideways on baking tray for another 20 mins turning once until pale gold all over.

Remove, cool & store in an air tight container.

Share with friends – Lorna

Mel - It looks wonderful Lorna, I’m so happy we are finally doing this!!

Mum - How proud I am of my two darling girls! And so would your dad have been…………

Adriana from Baking Powders - Hi Lorna,

I’m from Spain, actually carquinyolis are only the ones made just with almond and almond liqueur, we call the rest of them ‘biscotes. yours look delicious! and what a pretty blog!

2 SLAGS HJEMMEBAGTE BISCOTTI | Loquacious Lily - […] svært, og nydelsen efterfølgende er maksimal! Opskriften fandt jeg inde på den fine blog, Green figs and ham, som har en basisopskrift, hvor man selv tilsætter det fyld man ønsker. Halvdelen af kagerne skal […]

Collard Greens and White Bean Gratin

I used to belong to one of those mail order cookbook clubs, the ones where each month they send you catalog of noteworthy cookbooks and their pick for the month. I loved getting the catalogs and reading the reviews but part of their policy is that if you don’t send back the postcard saying you don’t want the book of the month they send it you. As those of you who know me have probably guessed it was not a good set up for me, and my cookbook collection grew considerably with books I didn’t really want during the short time I was a member. The last book I ever received having yet again forgotten to mail back my card was Frank Stitt’s Southern Table which has turned out to be one of my very favorite cookbooks. There are many recipes in the book that I love and the recipe below for Collard Greens was adapted from one of them. If you are in the market for a new cookbook (as I pretty much always am) I would highly recommend buying it.


I decided this would be my first post during our trip to visit friends in Texas last week. My friend Andee has set up a wonderful vegetable garden which yielded an abundant crop of Collard greens and she was looking for new ways to cook them. She also had Kale growing with which she made delicious Kale chips – but more on that next time!

Collard Greens and White Bean Gratin

5 garlic cloves (1 crushed to rub on the dish and 4 chopped)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
1 or 2 bunches of Collard greens (you can substitute Kale, Turnip greens or Mustard greens)
3 cups white beans (canned, rinsed and drained)
1/2 cup bacon
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 rosemary sprig, leaves removed and chopped.
Extra Olive oil for drizzling
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup of medium coarse fresh bread crumbs.

Blanch the Collard Greens in boiling salted water until tender (about 10 minutes) and chop. Reserve some of the liquid from the blanching, about a 1/4 cup.

Heat Oven to 450F (230C), rub a 10 to 12 inch gratin dish with one crushed garlic clove, set aside.

In a large saute pan heat olive oil over medium heat, add bacon then add onion, saute till tender then add chopped garlic for a another minute. Add the blanched collard greens for one more minute stirring to coat.

Transfer the greens/garlic/onion mix from the pan into a large bowl and add the beans, half of the parmesan, a tiny splash of olive oil, the rosemary, and salt and pepper (add a little of the reserved liquid from the collards if it seems too dry). Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Spread the mixture in a gratin dish, and top with the bread crumbs, the rest of the parmesan and drizzle a tiny bit more olive oil.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until it’s nice and brown and crunchy on top.

Enjoy! – Melani

Andee - Was I supposed to cook the bacon beforehand? I cooked the onions in the bacon grease. Yum. Very yum. And the kids ate it!

Mel - I made it the other night and tried it your way, I cooked the bacon first and then fried the onions in with the bacon, it was even better. I’m going to change the recipe to reflect your wonderful suggestion : )