This is my mom’s almond biscotti recipe. It is one of the specialty cookies she makes, among many others! Biscotti are Italian biscuit-like cookies. Translating to “twice-cooked,” biscotti are typically harder in texture, perfect for dipping in coffee. My mom’s biscotti are crunchy, but not as hard as traditional biscotti; they are lighter and less dense. They make for the perfect sweet bite in the afternoon with a cup of tea, or the perfect sweet ending to your day. My favorite part of this recipe is that we didn’t change a thing to “lighten” them up. They are easy to work into your day as-is. I love it!
What you’ll need to make My Mom’s Almond Biscotti
Ok, but first, a picture of my mom and me in our matching Food Network aprons! We can dream, right? I love my mom, isn’t she the cutest?
Ok, sorry… onto the recipe. Here is what you’ll need:
- flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- sugar
- margarine
- almond extract
- vanilla extract
- eggs
- anise seed
- lemon zest
- salt
- slivered almonds
Again, the best part of my mom and I remaking this recipe is that we didn’t have to change any of the ingredients for this recipe! My mom never shares this recipe, so I feel really special that she is allowing me to share it with all of you!
How to make the dough for my mom’s almond biscotti
First, let’s start by making the cookie dough. It is important to note that this dough is required to be refrigerated overnight before baking. So plan ahead!
When I made this batch, we made the dough late Tuesday afternoon and baked them Wednesday afternoon, so the dough stayed about a full 24 hours covered in the fridge.
Making the dough is pretty easy. For this, I used my KitchenAid stand mixer. Now, I rarely use this thing… like… ever. But also, I don’t bake much. It did come in handy for this recipe though. If you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer works well too!
To start out, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the ingredients.
In the bottom of your stand mixer bowl, combine the margarine (softened, not melted!), the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and the vanilla and almond extracts. Mix them until everything is thoroughly combined.
Once they are combined, slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Then, fold in the almonds (don’t do this part in the mixer, it’s important not to break the almonds up). Then, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge.
How to bake the almond biscotti
It’s important for me to note here that these cookies need to bake twice; “biscotti” literally means “twice cooked.” So, the dough bakes once in a loaf-form, and then it is cut into cookies and baked again quickly. The second bake really serves as a method for toasting the cookies.
Once the dough has been refrigerated overnight, take it out of the fridge and let it sit out for a bit. It doesn’t have to be room temperature, but it shouldn’t be ice cold because it will be hard to work with. We let ours sit out for about 15 minutes before working with it.
In the meantime, preheat your oven to 325F.
Grab a large baking sheet and spray it with non-stick cooking spray, like PAM. Then, sprinkle a little flour across the baking sheet. The baking sheet I use for this is huge… it is 15 1/2″ by 21 1/2″ and it’s perfect for making these biscotti. I will show you why later!
If you don’t have as large of a baking sheet, you might need to use two smaller ones.
Rolling out the dough
Add some flour to your counter and plop the dough onto the counter. Then, break the dough into two equal pieces. Begin working with each piece of dough, and roll each piece into a long log, like so. The logs should be approximately 1.5″ in diameter.
If you are using one baking sheet, you can get away with making two logs. They will be about 1.5 feet long each.
If you are using two baking sheets, you can create four shorter logs.
By the way, my mom did all of the work here, and I took the pictures!
Place the two logs of dough on your baking sheet.
Baking the dough
Pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake the logs for 25 minutes. The logs will expand and look like this after they are baked.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven, and let them sit for five minutes to cool just a bit.
After they have cooled, carefully place the logs onto a cutting board. Let them hang out for another five minutes or so.
Cut the logs into pieces to make the cookies; the pieces should be about 1/2′ wide each. Typically, this recipe yields anywhere from 48 to 56 biscotti.
Place the cut cookies back on the baking sheet, cut side up, and put them back in the oven.
If you have a convection bake feature on your oven, switch that on.
Place the biscotti back in the oven for 10 minutes (on convection bake) or until they become golden brown.
If you do not have a convection bake feature on your oven, bake the biscotti for 5 minutes, then flip each one, and bake for another 5 minutes.
Once the biscotti have cooled, place them on a serving dish and dust with some powdered sugar, if desired.
Storage
To store the biscotti, place them in an air-tight sealed container. The cookies will stay fresh for weeks this way.
My Mom's Almond Biscotti
Equipment
- stand mixer or hand mixer
- large baking sheet (15 1/2" by 21 1/2")
Ingredients
- 1.75 cups flour, plus more for rolling the dough
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- dash salt
- 1/2 cup margarine, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp anise seed, optional
- 3/4 cup slivered almonds
- non-stick cooking spray
- optional: powdered sugar, for garnish
Instructions
Making the Dough
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another mixing bowl (using your stand or hand mixer) combine the margarine, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla extract, almond extract, and the anise seed (if you are using it).
- Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the slivered almonds.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours before baking.
Baking the Biscotti
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Grab a large baking sheet (mine was 15 1/2" by 21 1/2"). If you do not have a large baking sheet, use two smaller baking sheets.
- Spray the baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add a sprinkle of flour to the baking sheet to lightly cover the bottom.
- Add a sprinkle of flour to your work surface, and split the dough into two pieces.
- Place the dough on your floured work station, and using your hands, roll each piece of dough into a log.
- The logs should be about 1.5 inches in diameter.
- If you are using one baking sheet, make 2 long logs. If you are using 2 baking sheets, make 4 logs.
- Place the logs onto the sprayed and floured baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until they are flattened out and have a little bit of color.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and let them cool for about 5 minutes.
- Carefully place the logs onto a cutting board. Let the logs sit for another 5 minutes.
- While the logs are warm, cut them into pieces, approximately 1/2" wide. This is creating the cookie shape.
- Place the cookies back on the baking sheet, cut side up.
- If you have a convection bake feature on your oven, turn it to 325F.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes until the cookies are golden brown.
- If you do not have a convection bake feature, bake at 325 for 3-5 minutes, then flip each cookie and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Place the cooled cookies on a dish and sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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These look amazing! Excited to try these.
Can you substitute the margarine with butter?
Sooo easy & delicious!
I made these today tell your mom there delish and the recipe was easy to follow!! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!!
Absolutely delicious! So easy to make and lots to share with my family. Love the lemon zest in the dough. Might have been my oven, but i had to bake a little longer on the final bake to get a golden color. First time ever using my convection so it may have been user error 🙂 So sweet of your mom to share a family recipe-much appreciated
Ahhhhmazing!!!! Easy and delicious. Thanks so much for sharing.
Wow – these are amazing! And so easy to make. Love all your recipes – and now your mom’s too!
I am curious why margarine is used instead of real butter? The butter will give the biscotti a far better taste overall.
Be sure and dust your hands with flour any time you will be handling the unbaked cookie dough!
Forget to dust and you will find out quickly why this is an important step!
Hi,
Could I use butter instead of margarine?
Yes!
These are AMAZING! They have hit it out of the park. I am definitely not a baker but I have been craving something a little sweet with my mid day coffee and came across this recipe. Now I am making them for the extended family everyone is a fan. They are the perfect coffee cookie or if you want a little sweet treat they have just the right amount of sweetness.
We have made biscotti for years, and this is now my new favorite biscotti recipe!!! Delicious and fun to make!!!
Why no quantities given with the ingredient list? Either you give your recipe or you dont.
Quantities are in the recipe card.
My first try at biscotti and it was a success! Probably because of the recipe and the baker! Delicious! Thank your mom for teaching us! ❤️
Ah! Just bought slivered almonds per the recipe card but now in photos I see you used sliced almonds. Not sure if it matters or not. Sliced are so much prettier and thinner. Only ingredient I needed to buy so I don’t think I’ll return. Oh well!
Not my first time using this recipe. Love it!
How long do these last please, if I seal in a bag to give away as gifts
Just made these and they’re very good.
Question: is the margarine salted or unsalted? I used unsalted butter, and although I did use a pinch of salt called for in the recipe, I felt the biscotti could have been a little saltier. Maybe if I had used salted butter, they would have tasted better, not so flat tasting.
Thank you.
These are delicious. I wanted a more pronounced almond flavor so used 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract. I was not prepared for how much they spread. Next time, I will roll to a 1 inch diameter and cut 4 pieces on two baking sheets. They really spread! Thanjs for sharing your mom’s recipe.