Dairy free biscotti with cocoa and hazelnut

Cocoa and hazelnut dairy free biscuits

Autumn has certainly arrived and I am really looking forward to pumpkins, squash, chestnuts and all the typical seasonal fruit and vegetables. I love autumn colors and food. This is a very autumnal recipe perfect for celebrating the arrival of this season and another special occasion. In fact, today, 23rd of September is the autumn equinox which denotes the start of the new season and my sister birthday! Happy b-day sis!

The recipe I selected for today is a shortcrust pastry made using olive oil instead of butter. The inspiration for this recipe comes from Juls’ Kitchen, a fantastic Italian/English blog with lots of ideas and personal recipes. The first time I saw these biscuits I though that it was a fantastic idea but the thought of making a mayonnaise scared me a little. In reality, Juls’ instruction are perfect and easy and the result is impressive. In order to leave my mark and make the recipe a bit more autumnal I opted for a chocolate shortcrust biscuits topped with some fresh hazelnuts bought from a stall in our local farmers market.

If you decide to replace butter with olive oil in other recipes make sure to consider that olive oil is 99.9% fat while butter is made of 83% of fat, therefore you must take into account the percentage of water in the butter and remember that 100 g of butter are equal to 83g of olive oil plus 17g of water. 

For 4:

56 g egg yolks (about 3 medium yolks)
230 g 00 flour
75 g potato starch
65 g fine corn flour
140 g caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
pinch of salt
175 g good quality extra virgin olive oil
35 g water
a handful of chopped hazelnuts

In the hand blender container pour the egg yolks and water and placing the hand blender to the bottom start blending. Slowly add the olive oil and keep blending until you have obtained the consistency of a mayonnaise, it should take 4-5 minutes. Sift the flours on a working surface and make a hole in the middle (i.e. the fountain). Place the sugar, salt, cocoa powder in the middle and then add the mayonnaise. Mix the mayonnaise first with the sugar and then with the flour using your fingers and knead the dough with your hands until you have obtain an homogeneous and smooth mixture. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour wrapped in a film sheet.

Heat the oven to 175°C. Take the shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and roll it on a lightly floured working surface until you have obtain a thickness of 5 mm. Cut using any cookie cutter shape you like. Place the cookies on a baking tin over a sheet of baking paper. Prick the cookies with a fork to give them a rustic appearance.

Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffe.

Lo so non e’ una torta, ma questi biscottini sono molto intriganti e autunnali, perfetti per farti i miei auguri di buon compleanno! Un bacione sister!