Savoury Biscotti
Savoury Biscotti are delicious biscuits, twice cooked so they’re wonderfully crunchy. Flavoured with cheese, nuts, herbs, and spices, they’re a variation on classic Italian sweet biscotti. Perfect to accompany cheese, pâté, alongside soups and salads, to nibble with drinks, or as impressive homemade addition to cheese boards.
Incredibly easy to make, all you do is mix up a scone-like dough, roll it into a log, and bake. Slice then put back in the oven until dry and crunchy. In fact, the only difficult part is deciding what wonderful flavours you want in your Savoury Biscotti.
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WHAT ARE BISCOTTI?
In modern Italian, biscotti is the generic word for biscuits or cookies. However, here in Britain the biscotti we’re most familiar with are those dry, crunchy sweet ones, often studded with almonds, made for dipping into a dessert wine like Vin Santo or alongside tea or coffee. The name for these particular biscotti is said to derive from the Latin biscoctus meaning ‘twice cooked’. It’s this two-stage cooking which gives a drier texture and allows the biscotti to be stored for longer.
It was only recently though that I discovered savoury biscotti. Being a lover of homemade savoury biscuits and crackers to go with cheeses, dips and the like, I couldn’t think why I hadn’t come up with them myself.
But, since finding out how good they are, I’m hooked.
SAVOURY BISCOTTI
As soon as I saw a recipe for cheese, herb, fruit, and nut biscotti in a food magazine, I knew I wanted to make my own version. As I’d just received some lovely artisan cheeses for my birthday, I thought they’d be the perfect partner.
For my first batch I included chopped almonds, Parmesan, and cranberries. While these were good, I wanted a much more savoury taste. So I began again, ditching the fruit and ramping up the savouriness with more seasoning and more cheese.
The result was exactly what I was hoping for. Full flavoured, crunchy Savoury Biscotti with cheese, nuts, herbs, and spices.
You’ll find full instructions in the recipe card at the end. But I recommend you read the whole of this post first for extra tips and step-by-step photos.
INGREDIENTS FOR SAVOURY BISCOTTI
The dough for biscotti, sweet or savoury, is somewhat similar to a scone mixture in both appearance and handling. However you flavour yours, the basic ingredients are self-raising flour (or plain flour plus baking powder), egg, milk, and olive oil.
The fun part is deciding what add-ins you want. For the Savoury Biscotti you see in this post I included:
- Dried herbs. I used my Homemade Italian-style Seasoning but you could swap in a mix like Herbs de Provence or a single herb like oregano.
- Garlic powder. Not too much, just for a little background flavour.
- Red pepper/mild chilli flakes. For subtle heat, I like fruity Aleppo or gochugaru pepper flakes.
- Black pepper. For extra piquancy.
- Salt.
- Hazelnuts. I used whole blanched hazelnuts, roughly chopped.
- Parmesan. I included a generous amount in the dough and sprinkled more over before baking.
These add-ins are just to get you started. By all means come up with your own combinations of different cheeses, nuts, and seasonings. You could also include things like chopped olives, sundried tomatoes, or woody fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme.
HOW TO MAKE SAVOURY BISCOTTI
While even simple Savoury Biscotti might look like a fancy artisan brand, they’re incredibly easy to make. Also, don’t be fooled by the name. Because twice cooked doesn’t mean the baking process is long at all.
MAKE THE DOUGH
You start by sifting the flour and salt into a mixing bowl then stirring in all the dry ingredients i.e. the herbs, spices, seasoning, hazelnuts and Parmesan. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and olive oil. Now use a fork to stir the eggy wet mixture into the dry ingredients before using your hands to form it into a ball.
Put the dough onto a board or clean work surface, then roll it up and down into a log and slightly flatten the top. Make it approximately 3 centimetres wide, 2 centimetres high and, without handling the dough too much, try to avoid any gaps or air holes.
Now you transfer the log to a paper-lined baking tray. For extra cheesy flavour, I sprinkle over more grated Parmesan. If any cheese falls off, just roll the log in it.
FIRST COOKING
Put the tray into the oven, preheated to the temperature shown in the recipe card, and bake the dough until firm and lightly browned. This should take around 25 minutes. When done, transfer the log to a wire cooling rack and leave for 5 – 10 minutes.
Now put the log on a board and use a serrated bread knife to carefully cut it into slices approximately 8 mm – 1 cm wide. I’d advise against cutting them much thinner as there’s a danger of crumbling (especially if you left the chopped nuts a little on the large side).
It’s traditional to cut the log on a slant to give longer pieces, but that’s up to you.
SECOND COOKING
Put the slices back on the paper-lined baking tray, return to the oven and bake until the Savoury Biscotti are a light golden colour and dried all the way through; you shouldn’t feel any bounce if you press down. How long this takes will depend on how thickly you cut the slices. But allow 10 – 15 minutes and be sure to turn the slices over at least once for even baking.
When they’re done, transfer the biscotti to a cooling rack and leave until completely cold before storing in an airtight container. Kept like this, they should stay crunchy for at least a week.
EASY SAVOURY BISCOTTI
As I write this post, there’s a week to go before Christmas. And I think Savoury Biscotti would make a great addition to your festive cheeseboards or just to offer as a nibble with drinks. You’ll find lots more Christmas baking recipes here.
You could even put some in a ribbon-tied bag as a thoughtful gift. Or how about dipping cheesy, herby, nutty biscotti into gooey baked Camembert? After Christmas, you could even gather up all those leftover bits of cheese and make easy Potted Cheese to spread over the moreish biscuits.
But, so simple to make, there’s no reason to save Savoury Biscotti for special occasions. Try them all year round as a tasty alternative to crackers for a snack of cheese or pâté, or instead of crunchy croutons with soup or salad.
If you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to know what you thought. Please leave a rating and comment.
Savoury Biscotti
So easy to make, these crunchy twice cooked biscuits are delicious with cheese boards, pâté and dips, alongside soups and salads or just as a nibble with drinks.
Swap in your own favourite herbs, spices, nuts, and cheeses to create a whole variety of Savoury Biscotti.
It's recommended that you read the accompanying blog post before starting the recipe.
Ingredients
- 100 g self-raising flour (or plain flour + ½ tsp baking powder)
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp mixed dried herbs (e.g. Italian seasoning, Herbs de Provence, or a single herb such as oregano)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 0.5 tsp mild chilli or red pepper flakes
- 0.25 tsp black pepper
- 50 g blanched hazelnuts (roughly chopped)
- 50 g Parmesan, finely grated (plus extra for sprinkling)
- 1 medium egg
- 25 ml whole milk
- 15 ml extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 180°C /160°Fan /Gas 4 /350°F with a shelf in the middle position.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
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Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl then stir in the rest of the dry ingredients: herbs, garlic powder, chilli or pepper flakes, black pepper, hazelnuts and Parmesan.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: the egg, milk, and olive oil.
Using a fork, stir the wet mixture into the dry, then use your hands to form it into a ball.
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On a board or clean work surface, roll into a flattish log that's approximately 3 cm wide and 2 cm high, trying to avoid any gaps or air holes.
Transfer to the paper-lined baking tray then sprinkle over extra grated Parmesan: if any falls off gently roll the log in it.
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Put the tray in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until firm and lightly browned.
Transfer the log to a cooling rack for 5 - 10 minutes.
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Put the log on a board and using a serrated bread knife carefully cut into slices 8 mm - 1 cm wide, cutting on the slant if liked.
Put the slices back on the paper-lined baking tray and return to the oven.
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Bake for a further 10 - 15 minutes, turning at least once, until the biscotti are dried all the way through and a light golden colour.
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Put the biscotti on the cooling rack and leave until completely cold before storing in an airtight container.
Should stay crisp for at least 1 week.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from a recipe in Delicious magazine.
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