Overcomplicated Biscotti

 Last year I had a massive craving for an Opéra. Unfortunately, I could not find any here and wasn’t able to get any on my last two trips to France either. I’ll admit it’s no longer a craving but rather an obsession. 

With the second lockdown coming and the prospect of going to Paris any time soon looking very unlikely, I have concluded that my only option is to bake my own! The only issue is that this is a rather time-consuming and difficult cake. Sure there is the baking of the ultra-thin and light sponge, but also the ganache and buttercream. And then of course you have to assemble it! (and I’m not a very neat or decorative baker – very much flavour above looks)

I really want one of these, but I’m also worried about spending all that time and not getting right. So, rather unlike me, I have decided not to just jump in and have a go. But rather I am going to bake a few other cakes that have some of the elements required. For practice and hopefully to give me more of a chance on making a half-decent one when I do.

First up on the way to the Opéra is a Praline Biscotti from my Big Book of Baking.

So not sue it has too much to do with the Opéra cake, but I wanted some biscotti to dunk in my tea 😊. Sticking to my usual style I went for this praline version rather than a basic one. Honestly, not sure that was the best idea!

First of all the praline took forever to make, secondly, it made the cake difficult to cut into those nice strips and lastly I’m not sure it added all that much – I think some simple hazelnuts would have been just as good.

Back to the praline, I think I just got away with it. And here I will put part of the blame on the recipe and part of the blame on me for not cross-checking. First issue is that they suggest using unblanched hazelnuts (with the skins on), but that is pointless as the skins come off in the process anyway. Second issue I had is that the recipe said to put the hazelnuts and sugar in the pan and stir occasionally until melted. I have now verified this and turns out you should melt the sugar first, and absolutely not stir until completely melted (avoids the clumps of sugar that I got).

Having said all that, my biscotti, although not looking the part are super tasty and we’ve been enjoying them with said cup of tea! (how English am I; with my cups of tea and a biscuit)

Next on the list will be a classic Swiss Roll!