BeyondPasta

Biscotti!!! There is quite some difference, I believe, between cookies and biscotti. Wanna guess which one of the two I am fond of? :P

Biscotti to me are half-way between the american cookie, too soft for me, and Oreo, way too crunchy, even though they taste great!! In italy the cookie aisle at the supermarket is huuuuge!! I was very disappointed to discover that in the US there is not the same culture for cookies. So, just like a lot of other things I miss from Italy, I make my own biscotti :) The only problem? They never last very long :'(

The original version of these biscotti is a recipe my aunt Romina gave me. Fantastic cookies! I will post them soon. Today I want to give you a variation of that recipe to make swirl cookies :)

I prepared the original version a few times, they always turn out fantastic and believe me, you could finish them all at once! Last time I was preparing them I felt I wanted to try swirl cookies and this dough seemed to fit the purpose :)

Here is the recipe for the swirl variation.

Ingredients

• scant 1 cup self-rising flour (150 gr)
• scant 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (200 gr)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs sugar (140 gr)
• 1 stick butter (120 gr)
• 1 egg
• 7 tbs heavy cream (100 ml)
• 2 tbs dark cocoa (only if you want to make swirls)

Directions

In a large bowl mix the flours and sugar. Add the butter cut into small pieces (picture 1) and softened at room temperature just a little.

With your fingertips mix the butter with the flour and sugar, until there aren’t chunks of butter anymore, the mixture should be homogeneous with a texture similar to sand (picture 2).

Add the egg and the heavy cream (picture 3) and mix until the dough is completely smooth and you can form a ball (picture 4).

The kneading does not take more than 10 minutes in total.

Divide the dough in two. Add to one half the cocoa and mix well until all the cocoa is incorporated.

Wrap the two balls of dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 min.

Take the dough out of the fridge (picture 1) and roll each one out into two rectangles of about 16×11 inches (40×27 cm), it will be about 1/4 inch thick (5 mm). In picture 2 you can see the dough rolled out, mine does not look quite rectangular, but you can do better. Remember to flour the countertop and the dough often, and when you roll turn the dough often to check it did not stick!!

Now move the dark dough on top of the white one. To make this step easier you can roll the dough on the rolling pin and then unroll it over the white dough. Note that they should have about the same size and shape!!

Start rolling the dough from the large side of the rectangle (picture 3). When you reach the edge wrap your roll and transfer the dough to the fridge for 20-30 min. Or to the freezer for 10 min. This step will make your dough a lot easier to cut, so don’t skip it!

Turn on the oven at 365°F (180°C).

Cut your roll in slices about 1/3 inch thick (a little less then 1 cm) and transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment paper, or you can use those silicon sheets for cookies (picture 4).

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cookies look slightly browned (picture 5).

Enjoy with a glass of milk, or coffee, or tea… well they don’t really need anything to go with them :P