There’s so much baking going on around Christmas that it can get a bit overwhelming (and tiring!) so anything to make life a little easier is always welcome in my home.

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Biscotti are twice-baked, have a firm texture and have the longest shelf-life. You can bake up a few batches, put them in a tin and then forget about them. In Italy, they have bowls of them sitting on the end of bars, and offer them around at the end of a meal. The Italians are very clear that Biscotti must be dipped in Vin Santo – a sweet dessert wine. I can only imagine their outrage at the sight of me dipping mine in a cup of milky tea, but honestly, they make such great dunkables!

However you enjoy them, these hardy little biscuits will see you through til the end of the festive period, and probably beyond… if you haven’t eaten them all by then.

RECIPE: Honey & Marzipan Biscotti

MAKES: 1 log / 10 biscotti

INGREDIENTS:

• 160g FLOUR
• 40g GROUND ALMONDS
• 1/2 tsp. BAKING POWDER
• 50g BUTTER
• 1 EGG
• 125g HONEY
• 40g BROWN SUGAR
• 1 tsp. ALMOND EXTRACT
• 40g MARZIPAN, diced and frozen

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c and line a baking sheet with baking paper. In a mixing bowl, add the BUTTER, EGG, HONEY, BROWN SUGAR and ALMOND EXTRACT, and whisk until smooth.
2. In a separate large bowl, add the FLOUR, GROUND ALMONDS and BAKING POWDER. Stir, so that everything is evenly distributed. Then, stir in the frozen, diced MARZIPAN.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and gently fold until there are no remaining white streaks. Tip onto the baking sheet and shape into a log approximately 30cm long and 3cm high. Flatten the top; the dough will be a little sticky but malleable. Then, bake for 25 minutes.
4. Remove the log and reduce the oven temperature to 160c. Be careful, because the biscotti will be piping hot, so you might want to leave it for a minute or two before handling. Cut into even slices approximately 2cm thick.
5. Arrange the slices back on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Then flip them over and bake for a further 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.