Hazelnut Biscotti

Photo: flickr user laughlin

Ingredients

1 cup Hazelnuts lightly toasted, and skinned

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Unsalted butter - (1 stick) melted

4 tablespoons Hazelnut liqueur or brandy

3 lrg Eggs

3 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons Baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely chop the hazelnuts.

In a bowl, combine the nuts, sugar, butter, liqueur and eggs and mix well. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead briefly; then form into a long loaf about 2 inches wide. Place the loaf on a parchment-lined or lightly-oiled cookie sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes or until firm. The loaf will have a cakelike texture. Remove from the oven and cool.

Cut the loaf diagonally into 1/2-inch slices and lay these out on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes more, turning them once until both sides are lightly browned and toasted. Cool and store in an airtight container.

This recipe yields about 24 biscotti.