Biscotti Battle 2023: Dueling Desserts & Confectionary Confessions

rockpile zin + chocolate biscotti is my “thing”

No, I’m not Italian, but I love Italian recipes and their rituals around food. This beloved, (semi-secret) Bruliam Wines biscotti recipe is inspired by the traditional Tuscan pairing of crunchy almond cantucci with Vin Santo. In Tuscany, hard, twice-baked, mini almond biscotti are dunked directly in Vin Santo with each bite. My recipe expands this sentiment, begging you to dip your crunchy, mocha flecked cookie right into that glass of zin. Do it now. Go ahead and dunk your biscotti into your glass of wine. It’s unexpectedly delicious. Plus, nobody’s watching, and we won’t tell. Here at Bruliam Wines, we call this “Zin” Santo, “holy” zinfandel, as in “holy cow that’s an unexpectedly delicious pairing.”

but i don’t always want my zin relegated to dessert

As much as I love delighting foodies with this creative and unexpected coupling, I hate seeing my Rockpile zin relegated to the dessert course with most wine-paired, multi-course meals. Yes, my Rockpile zin is yummy with a dense chocolate cake. But I’d prefer to see this juicy and structured pour of perfection complimenting steak, a hearty lamb dish, or even a hand-cut pasta with robust ragu.

Rockpile zin is delicious with everything from cheese & charcuterie to hearty lamb ragu

enter dessert wine

In 2018, I crafted a super delish late harvest sauvignon blanc. Clearly people loved it, since I blinked and it sold out. I tried to make it again in 2020. But 2020 was a rough year for winemaking. I tried a sweet repeat in 2021, but sauvignon blanc fruit set was so anemic that no grower would to hold back 0.75 tons for my one-off “oh it’s super fun…& we won’t pick until November” project. Wouldn’t you know the same thing happened in 2022. Why wasn’t my grower answering his phone? I felt jilted, annoyed, irritable.

Viognier, Robert Young Vineyard, Alexander Valley

a viognier miracle

By now everybody knows that the 2022 vintage can be divided into PHS and PHS - that being pre-heat spike and post-heat spike. When a winemaker looking to make dry viognier found his post-heat spike fruit far too sweet, the viognier project fell into my lap. Actually, it didn’t really fall in my lap. Through Grand Cru, I knew someone who knew someone who was family at Robert Young. And I was persistent. And I got lucky.

viognier is tropical-tangerine-honeysuckle goodness

Viognier is aromatically heady, redolent with apricots, white peach, and spring blooms. Actually, it’s perfect for dessert wine. Moreover, late harvest viognier is a dedicated Rhone thing. (Admission: I didn’t invent the late harvest viognier wine style, although I wish I did).

2022 Late Harvest viognier

but viognier + chocolate almond biscotti = palate fail

So now my “oh it will be so fun” late harvest viognier project is becoming a PITA. 375mL Rhone glass is hard to secure; days before bottling I decide to add the foil; and now, on top of all that, I have to invent a brand new biscotti flavor to pair with the wine I made. What’s a girl to do? Furthermore, I can’t deny the questions swirling through my head: What if my new biscotti becomes more famous than my original biscotti, and I’m mobbed on the streets of Healdsburg? What if wine buyers get upset when I bring one flavor but not the other? What happens when this wine sells out? Will I ever have access to this fruit again? Will tangerine zest make my biscotti soggy? Did Brian eat all of the chocolate almonds? This is a lot- like a LOT!

but in the end, it’s just a cookie

So today my intellectual property assets include two unique biscotti iterations, each deliciously dunkable in their respective wines. But in the end, it’s just a cookie, so I can share my intellectual property capital with you.

the original biscotti that started it all…

ingredients:

3 oz. all-purpose white flour
4.7 oz. white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1⁄4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon*
1 tsp. apple pie or baking spice blend
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1⁄4 tsp. ground star anise
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 cups dark chocolate covered whole almonds
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1⁄2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup turbinado sugar or coarse sparkling white sugar (optional for topping)

step-by-step instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine dry ingredients (all-purpose flour through aromatic spices) in a large bowl. Stir with wire whisk to combine.

Place dark chocolate almonds in a one-gallon heavy-duty zip lock bag. Use a meat mallet to break down the whole almonds into pieces. Whack them hard enough that every whole almond is splintered but not so hard you have pulverized almond butter. The nuts should look like shards and slivers.

Crush chocolate almonds with a meat mallet to yield slivers & shards

Add almonds to the dry flour mixture.

In a smaller bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs and flavored extracts.

Combine flour/almond mixture and eggs in the bowl of a kitchen aid-style stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine on lowest power until dough comes together. This takes a minute or two. Even combined, the dough will be stiff and a little crumbly. Be sure to incorporate the dryer bits at the bottom of the mixing bowl. This is a hard recipe to make without a stand mixer since the dough is stiff.

Dough is stiff but comes together easily with a stand mixer

Divide the dough in half. With your hands, gently roll the first portion into a 6-7 inch long roll. Place on a jellyroll pan covered with parchment paper. Pat down with your hands to flatten each log to about 3/4-inch thickness and 10 inches long. Repeat this process with the second log of dough. Sprinkle each log generously with coarse sugar.

Bake at 375° in the center rack for 28 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven, but DO NOT turn off the oven. Cool cookies for 5-10 minutes. Gently transfer the first cookie log to a flexible plastic cutting board. Sometimes you can even slide the cutting board right under the cookie. Using a sharp (but not serrated) knife, cut each log crosswise into 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick diagonal, biscotti-shaped slices. This should yield 14-16 useable slices. Don’t bother to double bake the dinky end pieces. Just pop those into your mouth to make up for the energy expended whacking the almonds.

Carefully replace the remaining cookies on the original baking sheet. Stand slices upright, without allowing cookies to touch. This ensures proper baking. Repeat with the second log.

Bake sliced cookies for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow cookies to cool on the pan. They will harden as they cool. Cool completely on a wire rack.

have you seen this recipe before?

Yeah, it’s the Tuscan Almond Biscotti recipe from Cooking LIght, circa August, 2006. I don’t actually own any intellectual property rights. But I’m also emotionally freed to riff on this recipe and make it pair even better with my late harvest viognier!

let’s make them next-level viognier appropriate

The base ingredients and cooking technique are identical.

Just swap roasted, salted almonds for the chocolate ones.

Swap Fiori di Sicilia for almond extract, and add the grated zest of 1 orange or 2-3 cutie tangerines.

Essential ingredients for the signature late harvest cookie

Viola! A perfect cookie to pair with my 2022 late harvest viognier.

because every wine deserves a signature cookie

Here’s a handy visual. A 48 second biscotti baking guide.

ready to bake; dunk & dip; munch & crunch?

Both the 2022 late harvest viognier and the 2021 Rockpile zinfandel will be available in our forthcoming fall release. Our 2023 fall release opens Monday, August 28. Happy drinking. Happy baking.