biscotti base
I love biscotti in just about every form, from sweet to savory. This is my go-to base for a sweet biscotti dough; you can customize it to your liking with almost any mix-in you desire. Any type of nut, dried fruit, chocolate chip, or combination will work -- just keep it to the specified amount.
You may wonder why I choose to use olive oil instead of butter. It's simple -- this recipe makes so many biscotti that it takes me a while to eat them all. Using olive oil helps them to keep longer without tasting "off" while the butter slowly goes rancid. Olive oil is also heart-healthy and brings an interesting fruity/peppery flavor to the cookie. If you're not into the flavor of EVOO, you could sub some or all of it with canola oil (or any other oil for that matter). You could also use melted butter, but up the amount to 4 TB (since it's only 80% fat). Try browning your butter - this, too, makes a spectacular biscotti.
This recipe is for a pretty hard - but not tooth-crushing - biscotto; intended for dunking, though I eat them out of hand without a second thought.
