{"id":4648,"date":"2018-04-20T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=4648"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:45","slug":"biscotti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/20\/biscotti\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom’s Biscotti (aka Anise Toasts or Slice Cookies)"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 20, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up biscotti were not ubiquitous the way they are now.<\/p>\n

Remember, this was before the coffee shop craze swept the country and when Italian food was viewed as \u201cforeign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, one could get biscotti in Italian specialty stores.\u00a0 There was even a marginally passable supermarket version from Stella d\u2019Oro.\u00a0 (It still exists though the company has been sold many times<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Stella d\u2019Oro Biscotti (I just can\u2019t bring myself to spell it incorrectly with an uppercase \u201cD\u201d and a lowercase \u201co\u201d)<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But mostly, biscotti were homemade.<\/p>\n

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My mother\u2019s biscotti are a little softer on the inside than the standard biscotti today, which seem to have a crunch the whole way through.\u00a0 She also made them much smaller than is now common, maybe three inches or so in length as opposed to six or eight.<\/p>\n

The interesting ingredient in these biscotti is maraschino cherries.\u00a0 The maraschino cherry as we Americans know it was a product of food science<\/a> from the 1920\u2019s and 30\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cReal\u201d maraschino cherries<\/a>, Marasca cherries from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, pickled in salt water and preserved in Maraschino liqueur, are actually quite rare.\u00a0 There are many versions of cherries preserved in liquor from throughout Europe, some clearly developed as substitutes for authentic maraschino cherries.<\/p>\n

I remember eating these biscotti in the 1960\u2019s so the recipe is at least that old, probably older.\u00a0 It is unlikely, however, that these biscotti ever saw real maraschino cherries due to their rarity.<\/p>\n

If this recipe dates to pre-prohibition, in which case it would have been from my grandmother or someone in her generation, it\u2019s possible that some sort of cherry preserved in alcohol (on the order of a real maraschino cherry) was originally used.\u00a0 I have no idea if the recipe is that old.<\/p>\n

Since liquor-soaked cherries were outlawed during prohibition they would have been eliminated from this recipe even if it is that old.\u00a0 Which brings us to a dichotomy in thinking about recipes that I often consider:\u00a0 the difference between authentic and traditional.<\/p>\n

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Is food authentically Italian if it\u2019s prepared in Italy by an Italian but does not follow any traditional recipe?<\/p>\n

If cioppino is made following a longstanding traditional Italian regional recipe but the cook substitutes seafood available in the United States for that available in Italy, is it authentic?<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that these biscotti are traditional in my family, having been made for more than 50 years.\u00a0 But what would make them authentic?\u00a0 And for that matter, would it be authentically Italian or authentically Italian-American?<\/p>\n

I suggest you mull that over while dunking biscotti in your morning caffe latte.

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Biscotti<\/h2>\n
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In my family, these biscotti are traditionally made much shorter (after being cut crosswise) that is commonly the case now. For longer biscotti, form 6 logs approximately 9 \u00bd to 10 inches long before baking. For shorter biscotti, form 10-12 logs of the same length. The recipe is easily cut in half (which is what I did when making this batch).<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>45 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>2 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>3 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span> 15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>6<\/span> dozen large biscotti<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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