Do you trust your intuition? Over the years, I’ve learned to do so more and more. When I’m in the kitchen, I totally trust my inner voice when it says “a bit more salt”, or “that’s enough oregano”. I used to cook mostly from recipes, but I now am able to let my instincts lead the way when I’m cooking without a book.
But baking is another story. We’ve all been told to follow baking instructions to the letter. Baking is precise, you see, unlike cooking, where the only rule is to trust your tastes, and to experiment.
So I’m reading this recipe for biscotti from Amy’s Bread, a bakery in NYC. It’s called Amy’s Anise Almond Biscotti. She cleverly explains that she discovered that the more subtle notes of star anise provide a pleasantly fragrant anise scent to her biscotti, which remind her of the anise flavoured goodies found in a traditional Italian bakery.
Whoa! New spice idea for a cookie! Lovin’ it.
So where do you find this stuff already pre-ground? Not lovin’ it.
But wait a second, Amy said, you can grind your own star anise. Ok, I’m back.
I take out my trusty coffee grinder, and the star anise. My trusty coffee grinder has now become my trusty spice grinder. Luckily, I don’t grind coffee in it because I’ve got a Keurig coffee machine, but if I did, I’d be stuck having to buy another one (so suggest the folks who know these things…apparently, your coffee can take on a “spicy” flavour if you use the same grinder).
And then it hits me. I look at the recipe, and it asks for 1/4 cup of ground star anise, plus some anise extract. My intuition is screaming “Hey lady! Stop! That’s way too much licorice flavour!” But my brain is fighting back and telling me: “Follow the recipe, because you’re baking right now. And baking is precise.” Oh, the things I debate with myself sometimes…
In this case, I let instinct prevail, and chose to significantly reduce the amount of ground star anise in the recipe. It’s not that I don’t trust Amy. It’s just that I’m not a huge fan of licorice flavoured things to begin with, but I do like a whisper of its scent here and there.
Turns out it wasn’t such a bad idea to re-think the spice profile for this cookie. I had Meat and Tater Man take these to work, and one of the project leads asked if I could make more, and please could I make them in different flavours too, while quietly stealing the last 4 biscotti in the container. The piano teachers loved them too.
Packing up some biscotti for the piano teachers
I love their shelf life, which is 10 times longer than muffin shelf life. I also love that they’re easy to store, or package up and take away to a friend, or hoard for your own snack drawer at work. Please tell me you have a snack drawer at work, or I will think that I’m the only totally crazed, food obsessed office worker who loves thinking about eating more than thinking about work. (This drawer in my filing cabinet is in place to satisfy the 3 pm munchies or, in a pinch, to provide me with an instant breakfast on those days when I’ve already fallen behind schedule and it’s not even 9 am. Which doesn’t happen all the time, but often enough to warrant a dedicated snack drawer at the office.)
Incidentally, star anise is not a relative of aniseed, even though they share the same licorice-like flavour profile. Star anise is named so for its star shaped seed pod which comes from a small evergreen tree from southwest China, and is a star ingredient in Chinese five spice powder. Anise seed originated in western Anatolia, and is a star ingredient in a variety of liqueurs, most notably in Pernod, anisette and ouzo.
Adapted from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread, by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree
Feel free to swap hazelnuts for the almonds in this tasty biscotti recipe!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp ground star anise
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp rum extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups whole almonds
- 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicone liner such as Silpat.
- In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 1 minute or until a sandy mixture has formed. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 1-2 minutes more.
- Add the spices and rum extract and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt and whisk together. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and mix slowly on low speed to incorporate. Fold in the almonds by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula. The cookie dough mixture will be very sticky.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Lightly flour your countertop, and place one ball of dough on the counter. Roll it out into a log so that its dimensions are approximately 2 inches wide by 14 inches long and 1 1/2 inches high. Place the two logs on the prepared cookie sheet with several inches between them.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg well, and then brush the egg wash evenly on top and on the sides of each log.
- Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet after 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 300F. Keep the oven turned on.
- Cool the logs for 25 minutes. Place them on a cutting board, and slice them into 3/4 inch thick pieces with a serrated knife. Put the sliced cookies back on the cookie sheet, with a bit of space in between each cookie.
- Bake again for 20 to 22 minutes.
- Cool and eat, or pack in an airtight container to store for up to 6 weeks.
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