When it is pouring heavily all that your heart desires is a hot cup of masala chai or coffee. And, because I believe coffee and tea are meant to be enjoyed with a snack, there’s nothing better than having a biscotti. It is my best all time favorite snack since childhood.
Okay, I got to be honest here, I never had biscotti growing up but I totally loved a golden brown Indian cookie called, cake rusk.
Do you know what it is? It is a twice baked buttery cake slices, deliciously crunchy, studded with fennel seeds, nuts, and sometimes raisins. Every time I ate, I could not resist myself to one or two. It was that addictive. When I first had biscotti at Starbucks, it tasted similar to cake rusk but a bit hard.
In India I never tried to make cake rusk at home, we always bought boxes of these, since it had a long shelf life and was a good accompaniment to tea even for guests. However, now I make it for two reasons, first a (full gluten) single biscotti cost $1.00 or more depending on the flavor ( gluten free can cost more) and second because I rarely buy any prepackaged gluten free baked good and bake everything from scratch. My recipe of fennel almond biscotti is kind of a mix of both, Indian cake rusk and American (or Italian) style biscotti. Light and crunchy, not hard as rock.
If you are wondering about the above picture, well that’s taken when I was sitting next to the window enjoying my coffee after taking pictures of the biscotti. Everything looked so fresh, calm and peaceful after the rain. I love rainy days though it may make many people feel gloomy but I find them comforting and soothing,. look at the bright side, rain is the ultimate excuse to take refuge more at home watching romantic movie in the company of your partner, read books, do window shopping, drink cups of tea or indulge in leisurely baking.
The warm sweet odor of fennel seeds adds a beautiful flavor to this biscotti and fills the home with comforting aroma while baking. If you can’t find fennel seeds, anise seeds make a fine substitute. I have added almonds for extra flavor, which are not essential but I am a bit obsessed with nuts and personally love almonds with fennel flavor, but if you are not someone like me, you can leave out the nuts altogether.
A perfect tea time snack.
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 cup) rice flour mix
- 110 g (1 cup) amaranth flour
- 100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
- 1/2 cup butter/ oil
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- 1 tbsp -2 tbsp fennel seeds (coarsely ground)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix amaranth and rice flour mix, baking powder, coarsely ground fennel seeds and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs and blend well.
- Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until blended.
- Stir in almonds.
- Using two spoons plop three fairly straight lines onto prepared cookie sheet. Shape it into a log with the back of spoon.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Remove from oven, but do not turn off oven. Reduce the temperature to 275°F. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Let the logs rest for 10 minutes. Cut each log into 1/2 -3/4" wide slices (they will be soft).
- Lay each slice back on the cookie sheet with cut sides facing down.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake for another 8-12 minutes or until fully baked and crisp golden.
- Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack.
Monica
Biscotti is one of my favorite things! I actually don’t mind it super crunchy. They are just perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee, to set out after dinner so people can linger… I’ll have to make up another batch soon to keep on the counter. I love almond ones (more nuts, the better!) and adding a little orange zest to pistachio ones. I’ve yet to make it with fennel or anise seeds but I do like it when I have it at restaurants. Great to learn about cake rusk, too!
Balvinder
Crunchy is fine but some of the biscotti at café shops are hard as rock. Thank you for being with me on the nut part. I love good amount of nuts in biscotti!
cquek
can i go with a hot cup latte
Marina@Picnic at Marina
Hi Balvinder, nice picture, although I am not a big fan of rain. However biscotti would make up for that. Great recipe, I’ll have to make it for my friend, and for me too! 🙂
Balvinder
Thank you Monica for visiting after so long. Where have you been?
yummychunklet
What a great biscotti recipe!
CCU
My mum drinks tea every morning, rain or shine, with a biscuit so this is perfect for her 😀
Thank you!
Cheers
CCU
Nava Krishnan
Bal, you make it so easy to bake the biscotti but somehow I have fear about it. Many a times I was tempted to bake yet held back because afraid it make turn out the way I want it to be. Its simply divine and can image the fabulousity with a cup of tea and sitting outside and enjoying the calm surrounding.
Ok, Look read and hoping it will be a success if I make. Btw, I am also not sure about the flour. Will read up and find out about it and where to buy.
Balvinder
Nava, the process of making biscotti is the most simplest and easiest. Just give it a shot. if you are not familiar with the flours make it with all purpose or wheat flour.
Coffee and Crumpets
I too like those cake rusks. I never ate rusks or biscotti growing up and I discovered them both much later in life. I love them both, biscotti with coffee and rusks with tea.
Your biscotti/rusks look so pretty, and I can just imagine how they taste with the fennel seeds.
Nazneen
Balvinder
Thank you Nazneen, cake rusks are an unforgettable delight and the addition of fennel seeds in this biscotti revive that memory.
Blackswan
Balvinder, you surprised me with your electric blue nail polish! You’re one funky lady! That window view is so serene & lovely. I’d love to sit there with you enjoying your biscotti 🙂
Balvinder
Shirley, I have a teen daughter who keep all shades of nail paint and some of the colors suit for my age. Enjoy the biscotti!
anne
Biscotti is one on my to-bake list . Back home , we have ( bigger and thicker compare to biscotti ) what we called bischocho , crunchy and sweet , sometimes overly so , and best dunk in coffee . Your biscotti look perfectly-baked , fennel seeds sounds wonderful ! Funky shade of polish , Bal , it suits you 😉
minnie@thelady8home
A cousin of mine lived in a place that had a bakery which made out of the world cake rusks. I still adore them, though haven’t been able to find enough with quality. So could be it’s time to make some of my own. I love the hint of fennel. Thanks for sharing, bookmarked.
Balvinder
Thank you Minnie. I have also tasted some best kind of plain rusks(that we dunk in tea) and cake rusks that my aunt brought from Dehradun. They were quite different from the one that I had at other places.
Sonal
I love Biscottis and remember eating cake rusks like crazy when I was a kid. We do get these cake rusks in USA but they are not as good as fresh from bakery. I am bookmarking this recipe to make. Totally loved it. Fennel is my favorite ingredient with biscotti too :).
Sonal
amy @ fearless homemaker
Ooh, these biscotti look so lovely and I love the flavors in them. YUM!
Amelia
Hi Balvinder, your biscotti look tempting and nice to dip in coffee. Nice click and love your garden. 🙂
Best regards.
Jay
I made these today for my mother. She can’t consume dairy so instead of butter I used 1/2 coconut oil. Plus she likes shakkar( jaggery powder) so instead of regular sugar I used shakkar. Found that the cookies were mildly sweet so I would suggest using 3/4 cup-1 cup shakkar. Other wise my mum loved these with her tea especially since she went gluten-free!
Balvinder
I am so happy you tried this recipe with your own twist. I too love the taste of shakkar and have turmeric panjiri recipe on my blog with shakkar but haven’t tried baking with it.
My snacks are usually mildly sweet hence the 1/2 cup sugar is correct amount. Also if the flour is scooped simply by a cup the amount is much heavier than what you measure by weight.
amrita
Fennel will part its sweetness to the biscotti…Love the pairing of almond and fennel together