Nut & Seed Biscotti
Thin, biscotti-style crackers densely pebbled with all manner of nuts and seeds - green pistachios, rust-toned hazelnuts, and black poppy seeds.
I set out here to make thin, biscotti-style crackers. They were to be densely pebbled with all manner of nuts and seeds - green pistachios, rust-toned hazelnuts, and black poppy seeds. I envisioned nuts and seeds packed together like pebbles in concrete, with barely enough flour and egg to bind everything together. I'd double-bake them - first in a loaf pan, after which I'd slice them thinly. Then back in the oven on a baking sheet until crisp. They turned out fantastic, a welcome addition to any cheese board.
These biscotti make a nice, three-bite base for a generous slather of goat cheese topped with a bit of chutney or chile jam.
Pro-tips
The best of the best of these biscotti were the ones I sliced thinnest. They had good snap, toasted up beautifully, and were notably better than their thicker counterparts. As I mention in the recipe, I used a serrated knife and a combination of two knife techniques. 1. A back-and-forth slicing motion (if there were lots of nuts at the surface of that particular slice) 2. A fast and decisive single cut. But the real key to easy slicing is making sure the loaf is well baked through.
Switch It up: Variations
You can incorporate any number of spices, herbs, or zests into the biscotti dough. You can experiment with your own medley of nuts and seeds. The next time I bake these I’ve made note to slice them the long way. It might bit more challenging to slice, but the results will be even more dramatic. You can see the dough below here.
More Biscotti Recipes
- Sicilian Pistachio Cookies (Biscotti al Pistacchio)
- Chocolate Dipped Biscotti
- - all cookie recipes
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Nut & Seed Biscotti
The seed mixture for the biscotti pictured was a blend of 1 cup lightly toasted hazelnuts, 1/3 cup each of lightly toasted walnuts, pistachio nuts, and pumpkin seeds, and 1 tablespoon poppy seeds. If you don't have white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour will work.
- 1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 cups mixed nuts and seeds
- scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup natural cane sugar, fine grain
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
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Preheat oven to 300°F degrees. Rack in the middle. Lightly butter or oil a 1-pound loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
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Combine the flour, nuts and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add the flour-nut mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be quite thick. Scoop into the prepared pan and press the dough into place using damp fingertips. You want to be sure everything is nice and compact, level on top, with no air bubbles hiding in there. Bake for 45-50 minutes - or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult. Remove loaf from the oven, and turn the oven up to 425°F.
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Immediately run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the loaf, remove it from pan, and set the loaf upside down on a cutting board. Allow to cool a bit. Using a thin serrated knife (or the thinnest, sharpest knife you have), slice the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Brush tops with a bit of olive oil and bake for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a touch golden and toasty. Pull them out of the oven, flip each one, and brush the other side with olive oil. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until nice and crisp. Let cool.
Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen.
Related Recipes
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Comments
I might experiment with some anise seeds too!
The biscotti look great. I love how you really packed in the nuts. @ Shanti: I have not tried millet flour yet but if I get my hands on some I think it sounds like a great way to make these wheat free. Thanks for the suggestion.
Looks delicious! I love the idea of incorporating all the nuts and seeds. I made a pistachio and dried cranberry version for Christmas which I have detailed on my blog: theripetomato.wordpress.com I don't like to double-bake for as long though, I prefer my biscotti a little softer. Wondering if you could make these into more of a savory application.... hmmm
These are just beautiful and they look crunchy! I'm going to make a variation using a non-glutenous flour.
Wonderful idea! I'll cook them next weekend. It will be my first time for Biscotti! yours seem so delicious...
Oooh, your nut/seed mixture looks luscious! One of my new seed discoveries is the Chia seed. Great nutrition and taste, and yep, they are the same seeds used for Chia Pets :-)
What a fantastic idea/concept! Usually the crackers are the base and not the flavor focus, but your biscotti-style crackers look beautiful and hearty, breaking free from the norm! Yum :)
These sound positively wonderful! I love making biscotti, and what a great transition from a treat with coffee to a cocktail snack. I am definitely going to make these.
thank you for giving the alternative to white whole wheat flour which we don't get here. now i can try these. i made niki's healthy cookies the other day because the ingredients were so basic and all at hand. the result was delicious. i am always glad when i have available ingredients to try your delicious recipes.
These are beautiful. I like the simplicity of the recipe--very appealing. I'd had hit-and-miss experiences with biscotti: sometimes they turn out beautifully, sometimes they turn into a crumbly mess of nut shards. I'll be interested to try this recipe; hopefully it will be the former!
Hi, it looks great and it would be the perfect thing to bring to a party I'm going to on Wednesday, but I don't eat any sugar. Do you think it's possible to substitute agave nectar or honey? thanks, sari Hi Sari, I think you can skip the sugar altogether if you like, or do a drizzle of agave nectar or honey. You should be fine. I'd say you probably won't be using enough to have to adjust the baking temp.
Heidi, I absolutely love biscotti (and the recipes you feature here on 101 cookbooks!). For years now, whenever I visit my Mum, she would ask me to bake her biscotti made with hazelnuts, cinammon, orange zest and honey. After many years of practice, I found that there are a few tricks to making clean thin slices of biscotti: 1) get a good bread/serrated knife - I use one from the Wustof Le Cordon Bleu range and it is the best bread knife for the task. I think it is all in the serrated edge... some just work better than others. 2) a sawing motion i find is best, 3) wrapping the biscotti while its warm in cling wrap and allowing it to cool completely (even in the fridge overnight) allows the loaf to "set" and go a little "stale" (think day-old bread), making it easier to slice. A fresh or warm biscotti loaf will more likely crumble and break regardless of tool or technique used (think soft "bread" stands no chance against hard nuts) Well, I hope this helps... Keep up the great recipes Heidi! HS: Great tips Li, thanks for sharing. I'll try the day-after technique the next time to see if I can get my slices even thinner.
To be honest, I've never taken a cooking class in my life (thought a month in Paris at le Cordon Bleu is on my to-do list!), so am always glad to get advice on such topics as cutting techniques... I'm learning, and you are a great teacher! I would go to California for a class of yours, for sure! Thanks, Heidi! HS: Thanks Kim :)
Amazing pictures! You must have a better camera than me! Haha. I wish I didn't live in the heart of Asia so I could have an oven and bake stuff!
These look great! I'm always on the look out for new and healthy biscotti recipes. Can't wait to try this one...
oh this looks fantastic Heidi - you're amazing!
Hello Heidi These look great and I can't wait to try them, but I always have difficulty to achieve a nice clean cut without the slices crumbling, do you have any suggestions, r would it be the knife I am using? HS: there are a few tips in the post, and some great tips throughout the comments as well - hope they help Trish.
Wow, these look awesome! They're so chock full of nuts, a great source of healthy protein and fat! They almost remind me of a fruit cake, except with nuts instead of fruit and crunchy instead of dense and cakey. I can't wait to try them sometime. I was also wondering if you think the recipe would turn out okay if I changed it from savory to sweet by adding unrefined cane sugar (or agave?) and replacing the olive oil with coconut oil. Thanks again for the great looking recipe!
What an excellent idea. Definitely like the sound of this being thinly sliced. And toasted. And with goats cheese. Sounds like it would make a great tasting and great looking appetiser.
Ohhh yummy...I am always looking for different ways to use more whole wheat flour in my baking...will let you know how it goes... CHEERS!