GTL Thursdays: Baking like a Ginzo

Cari amici,

For today's GTL Thursday, we are going to my mother's fantastic biscotti italiani.

Contrary to popular belief, biscotti are not charactized by their long shape and crispy texture, but rather by the fact that they are cooked twice--which is exactly where they get their name from: bi=two, and cotto=cooked...you get the idea. Because of the double bake, they are fantastic for dunking.

Note: litered throughout this post are italian phrases and words.

So, let's get cookin...andiamo!

The recipe calls for:

5 cups of Flour

1 cup of Sugar

2 teaspoons of Baking Powder

6 Eggs

1 cup of Vegetable Oil

1 teaspoon of Anise of Oil**

**Ginzo alert**

Anise of Oil is not typically available at Stop and Shop. You can, however, find it at most Italian speciality stores, delis and bakeries. If you live in the Boston area, I recommend Bob's Italian Food Import Store on Main Street in Meffa (Medford). Two bottles of oil at Bob's retail for just under a saw buck ($10).

Also, do not mistakenly call it Anise Oil or Oil of Anise, because my Grandmother, Angelina, will probably wash your mouth out with soap. You've been warned.

First step:

If you are like my mum (yes, i said m-u-m), and all of your dreams have come true and you own a gorgeous Kitchen-Aid mixer, then you can just throw all of the ingrediants into the bowl and mix it on low for about 3 minutes--or until all of the dry ingrediants have been absorbed and throughly incorporated.

If you are living hand-to-mouth like me, then you are gonna have to rock this marriage of wet and dry old school. I recommend cleaning off a workspace--preferably wooden. You can use a cutting board, of if you are like my mum, you own a cookie/pasta board, pictured here:

Allora, pour all of you dry ingrediants into a pile. Then make a little "well" with your hands for the eggs and other wet ingrediants. Kinda like this:

And then get messy and mix it all together with your hands. It is goopy at first, but overall fun. Ti promesso.

Step 2:
Once everything is mixed and incorporated, get it on the wooden board and knead and roll. Don't over overknead, but don't neglect your dough either. You want it to feel soft and pliable and pleasant--like playdough feels on the first day you open the little yellow cup.

Step 3:

Roll the now soft dough into a ball and score it into fourths, as displayed by the following visual aid:

Step 4:
Roll each quarter into a narrow column.

Step 5:

Place the snake like dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Step 6:

Using 2 fingers, press and flatten the dough just a little, like so:

Step 7:
Repeat to all columns.

Step 8:

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Step 9:
While the cookies are baking, do something wicked Italian, like drinking espresso and trash talking Silvio Berlusconi.

Step 10:

After the first cooking, your dough should emerge from the oven and look like a skinny little loaf of french bread.

Sidenote: Some historians believe the word Mafia is an acronym that stands for "Morta alla Francia, Italia Anela" or "Death to France, Italy cries!"

Step 11:

Once cooled, cut the loaves on a diagnol into 1/2 to 3/4 slices, as so:

You should probably taste the cookies at this point--even though they have not yet been doubly cooked. I love them when they are soft and warm like this. Delizioso!

Step 12:

Place the slices back on the cookie sheet, and let cook 10 minutes on each side. Yes this will require you to flip the cookies and burn your fingertips. Che doloroso!

If you like your cookies, crispier, than you can cook them a little longer.

So that is that.

Semplice, no?