Morning Sickness and Almond Biscotti!

I heard from a friend today with the news that she is expecting number ten! She is a hardworking, homeschooling mother with eight girls and one boy. I'm guessing they wouldn't mind number ten being another boy as would the one son! She has been very ill with morning sickness which makes life difficult in a family of that size but it sounds like her older daughters are helping out wonderfully. I have to sympathize with her as my pregnancies provided me with lots of upset stomachs the first three or four months. Food would visit me but never stay long.

Anyway, her letter put me in mind of the one thing that did seem to calm down my morning sickness way back in the day. Thought I'd share the recipe with you today.

Almont Biscotti

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 ⅔ cups toasted almonds, roughly chopped*

Place flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix. Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Depending on how dry your flour is, you may either need an extra egg or more flour. The dough should hold it’s shape and you may find mixing and kneading it with your hands easier than with a spoon.

Grease two baking sheets. Divide the dough into quarters. Shape each piece of dough into a long, somewhat flattened loaf. The dough will spread in baking so keep some space between the loaves. Shaping the dough directly onto the baking sheets is easier than trying to move it from the board. The dough is sticky and spraying your hands with vegetable spray helps a lot. There will be two loaves on each baking sheet.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325. Cool the loaves slightly and cut diagonally into 3/4-inch slices and lay them cut side up on the sheets. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Cool on racks.

*Toast whole, shelled almonds on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool before chopping and adding to your dough. Do not blanch the almonds.

Variations:

1. Instead of almonds, use chopped walnuts or pecans, tablespoon off grated orange rind.

2. In place of any type of nut, add powdered ginger, cloves, cinnamon and lemon rind according to taste.

3. Use chopped walnuts and ¼ cup cocoa powder or two tablespoons mocha mix.