Try out this Italian Biscotti Recipe that comes straight from Italy! This recipe will teach you the step-by-step perfect method for creating delicious, toasted, cozy biscotti.
Recipe Origins
We took a deep dive into my family cookbook for this one. My great grandparents came over to the United States of America from Italy, and brought plenty of delicious Italian recipes with them!
We have a family cookbook that compiles all of our very favorite recipes and family traditions so that they are never lost!
This Italian Biscotti Recipe came from my great grandmother, who passed it down to my grandmother, who passed it down to my aunties, who passed it down to me.
We make this recipe every single year at Christmas, and spend the few days after the holidays dipping the cookies in our coffee or hot chocolate as an early morning treat.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and that it similarly becomes part of your holiday traditions in the years to come.
Why Make this Recipe
- Traditional Italian: As I mentioned above, this Biscotti Cookie recipe comes straight from Italy! If you want a traditional Italian dessert, you have come to the right place.
- Perfect for Breakfast or Dessert: We love eating our biscotti for dessert, but one of the very BEST ways to eat this cookie is actually at breakfast! Biscotti tend to be very hard and crumbly, but dipping them in your coffee, hot chocolate, or milk, softens them up to be just perfect.
What Ingredients are in this Recipe
- Sour Cream: I choose to use full fat sour cream and I bring it to room temperature before cooking with it
- Anise Seeds: Anise seeds bear a vague taste resemblance to liquorice. You can find anise seeds in the spice section of your grocery store.
- Sugar: I use white, granulated sugar. I have not experimented with other types of sugar.
- Flour: We use white, all-purpose flour
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream butter and sugar well with an electric mixer. Add sour cream, well-beaten eggs, and anise seeds, mixing between each ingredient.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until the dough is sticky (do not add more flour).
Step 2: Bake Once
Grease one cookie sheet with butter.
Divide the dough into 3 loaves. Wet fingers very lightly to shape dough without it sticking to your hands. Put all 3 loaves on one pan.
Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
Step 3: Bake Twice
Slice into ¾” slices at an angle.
Lay sliced biscotti on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes until brown, then turn over and bake for another 4.
Serve dipped in chocolate or dunk in coffee if you so desire. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- If you do not have or do not want to use Anise seeds, you can also opt to sub in almond extract. About 1-2 tsp of almond extract should work in their place.
- Use a serrated knife to cut the biscotti into their shapes. Serrated knives are better for cutting bread-like products (which includes these cookies),
- When shaping the dough into loaves, wet your hands with a small amount of water. This water will keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
- The first bake may result in the loaves expanding and growing into one another. This is okay! Simply use your serrated knife to cut the loaves apart from each other. You will not be able to tell the difference once the biscotti are cut into their shapes.
Recipe FAQs
How Do I Make Biscotti Harder?
I prefer my biscotti lightly toasted, so I only toast mine for about 20 minutes or so. However, if you like a more firm-toasty biscotti, you can certainly make that happen!
The longer the biscotti toasts in the oven, the harder it will become. Therefore, toasting your biscotti for longer will increase the hardness of the cookie.
If your cookie is having a hard time toasting, feel free to bump the oven temperature up to 375. Make sure to keep an eye on the cookies so that they do not burn!
How Long Should Biscotti Cool before Cutting?
After the first round of baking, you’ll need to allow your biscotti loaves to cool before cutting them into the strips that form the cookies we know and love.
I don’t wait for my biscotti loaves to cool all the way before cutting. Instead, I allow them to cool just long enough that my hands don’t burn when I handle them.
How Do You Tell if Biscotti is Done?
On the first round of cooking you’ll be able to tell the biscotti is done because it will have expanded and turned brown. You should also be able to stick a toothpick in it and have it come out clean, similar to a cake.
On the second round, it is up to your preference to decide when the biscotti is done. Depending on how toasted you like your biscotti, the cook time might change.
Don’t forget to check the bottoms of the cookies, as they tend to cook faster than the tops during the toasting section of this recipe.
Did you enjoy this recipe for Biscotti Cookies? If so, don’t forget to check out these other recipes that we picked out just for you:
- Pecan Snowball Cookie Recipe
- Shortbread Cookies with Jam
- Cookie Butter Recipe
- Alfajores (Shortbread Cookies with Dulce de Leche Filling)
Traditional Italian Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ lb 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup 8 oz sour cream
- 3 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp anise seed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream butter and sugar well with an electric mixer. Add sour cream, well-beaten eggs, and anise seeds, mixing between each ingredient.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until the dough is sticky (do not add more flour).
- Grease one cookie sheet with butter.
- Divide the dough into 3 loaves. Wet fingers very lightly to shape dough without it sticking to your hands. Put all 3 loaves in one pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Slice into ¾” slices at an angle.
- Lay sliced biscotti on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes until brown, then turn over and bake for another 4.
- Serve dipped in chocolate or dunk in coffee if you so desire. Enjoy!
Notes
- Sour Cream: I choose to use full fat sour cream and I bring it to room temperature before cooking with it
- Anise Seeds: Anise seeds bear a vague taste resemblance to licorice. You can find anise seeds in the spice section of your grocery store.
- Sugar: I use white, granulated sugar. I have not experimented with other types of sugar.
- Flour: We use white, all-purpose flour
- If you do not have or do not want to use Anise seeds, you can also opt to sub in almond extract. About 1-2 tsp of almond extract should work in their place.
- Use a serrated knife to cut the biscotti into their shapes. Serrated knives are better for cutting bread-like products (which includes these cookies),
- When shaping the dough into loaves, wet your hands with a small amount of water. This water will keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
- The first bake may result in the loaves expanding and growing into one another. This is okay! Simply use your serrated knife to cut the loaves apart from each other. You will not be able to tell the difference once the biscotti are cut into their shapes.
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