Almond Biscotti

I love biscotti and I admit I do not make them often. This batch was made as a thank you gift. The story goes like this. My husband is a fire breathing,  no eating, dragon. He loves Indian food, mainly for the amount of heat it can generate and the flavor is great, too. One of his colleague's many years ago introduced him to his mom's creation of home made green pickled mango, brought in directly from India. My husband was savouring every bite and eating it in a manner that it would last. He enjoyed several batches of this delicacy mainly by himself, since even I would not stand that much heat, but more so, I know how much he likes it, so I wasn't going to take it away from him. The current batch my husband was enjoying was delivered to his colleague by his mom herself, who was here visiting from India. My husband insisted that we pay back in kind and insisted we make something for the lady, that she will appreciate. After some negotiation he found out that she loves biscotti and I was only happy to oblige. I thought that something classic will be a good start.

3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 stick 1/2 c melted butter
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 c flour
1 c whole almonds
2 tbsp of sliced almonds
Beat together eggs and sugar, then add all liquid ingredients. Sift together the dry ingredients and add them to the egg mixture. The whole almonds are added and mixed in well. Dough will look a bit like cookie dough. Line your baking sheet with silicon mat and dump dough on it to shape a log. I use silicon mat for baking and shaping the dough. My hands never end up dirty, and the dough does not stick to the mat either. I simply roll the dough by rolling the mat in to a cylinder around it and smoothing out thicker parts to get a log even in thickness and height. my log take the entire length of the baking sheet and is about 1 inch tall. Top the log with sliced almonds evenly, making sure that they will stick to the log. Bake at 350F for about 30 min. The log will spread out and will get slightly taller. Cool the log off and slice on the bias into about 1/2 inch thick slices with  serrated knife. Arrange them on the baking sheet and bake another 20-30 min at 275F. Makes about 2 dozen. Cool on wire rack and enjoy with cup of coffee or tea.