Savory Biscotti

Mm, Biscotti.  Most of us probably think of a crisp cookie-like stick with chocolate on the bottom, accompanied by coffee (or tea for folks like me).  They're Italian, and my dad loves Italian food.  He's made traditional (almond) biscotti a couple times.  The first time our oven temperature wasn't registering properly, so it was an utter disaster.  Think black.  Ok, to be fair, there was only a little smoke, and the top wasn't totally burnt, so it still had a little bit of the sweet almond flavor.  It was a real bummer actually.  But since then he's had much better luck.  

Biscotti are twice-baked, which is really essential to the texture (and form).  You start by forming a wide, flat loaf and baking it until it is firm and set.  Then it is sliced cross-wise into the form we associate with biscotti, and baked again until it has that crisp, crunchy texture.  That's how biscotti has a smooth top and porous sides-- it's really slices of cookie-bread.  

The New York Times published a recipe a few years ago that used the same technique, but to a savory end, creating a cheddar biscuit loaf that is sliced and baked into biscotti form.  When it was my turn to bring snacks to a lab meeting last year, I decided to make it so that I had something salty to share.  It doesn't take too many ingredients, and I went ahead and added a few ingredients of my own.  Here's what I did:

Savory Cheddar Biscotti

2 eggs

1 C grated cheddar cheese

1 C and 2 Tbsp flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1/4 tsp ground thyme

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the eggs and cheese in a food processor or blender.  Process until the mixture is yellow and thick.  Place the flour, powder, salt, pepper flakes, and thyme in a bowl, and add the mixture to it.  Stir until just combined, then turn out onto a floured board and knead until it holds together.  Form into a log about 8-10 inches long.  Place it on the lined baking sheet and flatten it.  

Bake until the loaf begins to brown and firm up, about 20-25 minutes, then remove from the oven.  Cut crosswise into half-inch slices.  Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes more until crisp and toasted.  Flip them and toast the other side.  Cool completely before serving or storing.

If you have a food processor, you can avoid dirtying a bowl.  Just add everything to the egg mixture in the processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Don't over-process.  Treat it a bit like pie dough, which will get tough if you keep working it.  That's what the original recipe suggests.  I adapted it to the bowl situation, since the closest thing I have to a food processor is a Magic Bullet.  And while it is a wonderful little device, it has its limits.  A full loaf's worth of dough would be such a limit.

After the first baking

I said I made this for my lab meeting.  I blew the lab away.  People were excited, they asked for the recipe, they joked that I'd have to be in charge of the food from there on out.  (Which could be good way to avoid presenting… )  I was pretty happy with the way the flavors came together.  The egg/cheddar puree mean the cheese flavor is distributed evenly throughout all the dough, rather than bits of cheese and blandish cracker.  I recommend a sharper cheddar for a stronger flavor.  My husband doesn't care for thyme, so he was a bit less than thrilled by that addition.  Which was fine, I wanted to take it all in to the meeting, not leave half of it at home!

You'll see in my photos that mine were quite round, rather than the long stick-shape we think of for biscotti.  If you want that shape, flatten the loaf a bit more.  But really, it doesn't matter the much, because you won't be dunking these yummies in coffee.  Although, you might try them with wine.  Cheers!