Ricette · Anice

Anise Biscotti

Name: Anise Biscotti
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 41 min
Total time: 1 h 16 min
Yield: ~32 biscotti
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 240 g All-purpose flour; 132 g Granulated sugar; 100 g Whole eggs (about 2 large); 48 g Butter, softened; 5 g Anise seed, lightly crushed; 5 ml Anise extract (or anisette); 3.8 g Baking powder; 2 g Fine salt

Fifty-two of the 175 bakeries in our Register still list anise. It was on American counters long before chocolate chip was, and it is the flavour the old Italian-American shops kept when they dropped the others.

La ricetta documentata Facile · si inzuppa in caffè, anisette

Prep15 min

First bake26 min

Rest20 min

Second bake15 min

Yield~32 biscotti

Almond-anise biscotti stacked on a plate — The almond-anise slice — the Register’s old guard · Photo: J Doll, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Save · Pinterest

Perché funziona

Anise was the default flavor of the Italian-American biscotto for a century — it rides the immigrant line from Liguria’s anicini and the anise biscuits of the south. In our Register it still outnumbers cranberry, pistachio and vanilla. Crushing the seed matters more than adding more of it.

Nell’Atlante

This style has a home and a history — see The Italian-American canon in the Atlas for its class, its dunking wine, and its papers.

Il sigillo

Documented, not yet sealed. The Tested 3× mark arrives with our own three bakes and their published notes.

Fonti

La schedaGrammi · baker’s %

Ingredienti

All-purpose flour240 g · 100%

Granulated sugar132 g · 55%

Whole eggs (about 2 large)100 g · 42%

Butter, softened48 g · 20%

Anise seed, lightly crushed5 g · 2%

Anise extract (or anisette)5 ml

Baking powder3.8 g · 1.6%

Fine salt2 g

Il metodo

Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs, anise extract and the crushed seed. Fold in flour, baking powder and salt.

Shape two logs, 26 × 6 cm. Bake at 175°C / 350°F for 26 minutes.

Rest 20 minutes. Slice on the bias at 15 mm with a serrated knife.

Stand the slices and bake at 150°C / 300°F for about 15 minutes. The anise blooms as they cool.

Keeps per the published record
Three weeks in a tin.