Sesame Biscotti - A Taste of Sicily

Hello! I am Justine and I am an Italian American from New York. I am very happy to have you here in my little Italy online!
So this is my first blog post and I'm so excited to be sharing my Italian American heritage with you, because I feel that each Italian American has their own story and traditions that their family has passed down. There are many "Italian story blogs" out there, but that's what makes each one special -their own traditions from their family's corner of Italy.
My family's corner of Italy, is Serradifalco, Sicily and I can't wait to share my full story with you, but until that post, I want to share my Sesame Biscotti recipe with you first, since nothing captures the cuisine of Sicily quite like sesame seeds. 😉
I have been blessed to spend a lot of time as of late with my Sicilian grandfather, Gaetano Iannello, who I love dearly, is 87 years old, and loves all things sesame. So I am always looking for ways to incorporate more sesame seeds and what better way than to include them than in biscotti, right?! Here is the recipe I came up with for him and it more than passed the sesame seed test, and it was at that moment that I knew it was too good to keep a secret. 😤

Sesame Seed Biscotti

First, we are starting with our wet ingredients with a smidge of butter that's just enough to give a great flavor, but not enough to make you feel guilty like in traditional cookie recipes. There are some eggs and sugar, which I love to use organic ingredients here for the best taste and quality (aside from the obvious health benefits as well). What would a good Italian biscotti recipe be without the almond extract?! So of course, get your almond extract out and aluminum free baking powder too. A pinch of sea salt and those irresistible sesame seeds and now we are ready to assemble these beauties!

Combine well until smooth and creamy, before adding in the flour and sesame seeds.

Now I use organic all purpose flour and that is again, not only for better nutrition, but also better taste. Your biscotti will not end up tasting like white paste like it does with bleached white flour. Trust me, I've had those...no good and definitely not full of the quality that Italian's pride themselves in. Sprinkle in a generous spoonful of sesame seeds with the flour and you are practically done!

Mix well until the mixture is crumbly and combined. Then drop that fork and get your best utensils out - your HANDS! 👋

Gently knead this dough until smooth and forms a ball.

Hold on! Don't eat it yet, I know it looks and smells amazing already....But first, divide the dough in half on a cookie sheet so we can pop these into the oven and let the Sicilian aromas of almond and sesame fill our kitchens!

From here we form 2 logs on the cookie sheet and then brush the tops of the slightly flattened logs with water, using a pastry brush. 

Then we sprinkle those lovely sesame seeds on top for the crowning glory!

So gorgeous and so Italian 💓

Next we bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then take them out and let them cool for about 5 minutes, and turn your oven down to 300 degrees. Then cut into slices about 1 inch-ish apart. 

Then turn them cut side down on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Now remember, before you hate me for making you bake these cookies twice, BIScotti means "twice cooked" in Italian - NOT MY FAULT!  But that's why these delicious Italian cookies are the perfect accompaniment to your coffee and tea, because they are cleverly designed to be the perfect texture for absorbing your favorite espresso! So you can get your espresso brewing while these biscotti finish baking, how's that?!

After the 10 minutes are up, flip the biscotti to the other side and bake another 10 minutes and then they will be done! 

Ah yes, Sicilian perfection! Now let them cool for a few minutes before filling your biscotti jar! 

This is my grandfather's biscotti jar, and I love keeping it full for him of his new favorite sesame biscotti! 

Now here are those quantities for you:

(links are to the products I love and use)

2 cups organic flour

2 tablespoons organic butter

1 cup organic sugar

2 organic eggs

2 teaspoons almond extract

pinch of sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder

1 tablespoon sesame seeds + more for the top of the biscotti

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and almond extract. Then add in the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder and sesame seeds. Combine well until a dough forms. Divide dough in half. Working on a baking sheet with floured hands, form each piece of dough into a flattish log 10-12" long and 2" wide. Brush each log with water and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Bake until lightly brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 300. Cut logs into 1" wide slices. Arrange cut side down on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip biscotti and bake another 10 minutes. Let cool completely before storing. 

Buon Appetito!

Thank you so much for joining me today on my Italian American journey! Please subscribe to this blog so you can catch the rest of my posts. I am so pleased to have you here 😚 Love to hear from you, so please leave your comment to let me know you were here today. Much love - Ciao!