Cardamom Biscotti

If you ask me which kind of cookies are my favorite, I would answer you 'Biscotti' without even thinking for a moment. For couple of reasons. You could dunk them in hot beverage or eat as is. They are the most healthy cookies if you consider low-fat goodies as healthy. They don't need lot of butter like most of the cookies do. Baking is a breeze since you bake them as a log and slice and bake again. Aren't these reasons enough to love a Biscotti? If you still think you like classic cookies like Snickerdoodles or Peanut butter cookies, do visit again to enjoy them virtually.

Today being the second day of Bake-A-Thon, I am sharing this biscotti recipe with you all. Joining me in this adventure are:
Susan of The WellSeasoned Cook,
Preethi of IsingCakes,
Veena Krishna Kumar of VeenasVegnation,
Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.

One year back - Holiday Gift Ideas
Two years back - Cake Decorating Basics - II
Based on Anise Biscotti recipe from the book 'Good Housekeeping Baking'
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Canola Oil - 4 TBSP (1/4 cup)
Eggs - 3 large
Cardamom - 6 - 7 pods powdered (scant 1 tsp powder)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom powder. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and sugar very well. Add the liquid to dry ingredients and continue to beat. This is a very wet dough. Divide the dough into two portions and shape each half into a log of approximately 10 " X 3". You can wet your hands or a spatula to shape. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and slice them either diagonally or straight into 3/4" thick slices. Most of the biscotti recipes tell you to let them cool down before slicing, but this recipe instructed to slice immediately. I did follow it to see how this would work differently. I would stick to the method of waiting till they cool down a bit before slicing. Even when it doesn't affect the taste, these biscotti had uneven crumb texture due to slicing when still hot. Bake them cut side down for 5 minutes and then flip and bake for 5 more minutes. I baked them on the back (not on the cut side) for 10 minutes. You could under bake it if you are planning to dunk it in coffee or tea.

Cool completely on the rack. They get hard as they cool. If you feel they are not hard enough, you can always return them to the oven to crisp up for couple more minutes.

Enjoy.