• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • twigg studios

    A British baking blog, food photography

    • Home
    • BLOG
    • WORKSHOPS
    • SHOP
    • PORTFOLIO
    • Contact
    • hire me
    • ABOUT ME
    April 2, 2020

    Easter Simnel biscotti

    baking, recipe, sweet

    easter biscotti

    Simnel biscotti, just in time for easter.

    Jump to Recipe

    Studded with spices, dried fruit, marzipan and almonds and a little amaretto.

    Biscotti are a great thing to make at the moment, because they last for ages, so that’s what inspired me to create them, rather than a softer cookie.

    They are quite hard crunchy biscuit, perfect for dipping in coffee, or vin santo wine.

    The flavours are inspired by the popular Easter simnel cake, which is a fruit cake with marzipan.

    I thought the flavours would work well in biscuit form.

    The word biscotti means twice baked, so these delicious biscuits are baked first as one loaf and then sliced, laid flat and baked again.

    I usually make them at Christmas time and give them as gifts, but i wanted something to fill the biscuit tin with that would last for a while so decided to make some now.

    simnel biscotti
    Baking by the window

    The light is always so beautiful at golden hour in this room.

    I had been looking at quotes recently seeking some positive words, this one from Harry potter stuck with me.

    “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”. Albus Dumbledore

    I was so inspired that i decided to try a take a photo of light, showing how i had been trying to seek some small moments of joy.

    With most of the nation on lock down, stuck in our homes, we can feel helpless. It can also be very frustrating for those that love to socialise not being able to see their friends and families.

    Hopefully by staying home, this side of the window, We are helping to make a difference.

    Simnel biscotti easter
    hazelnut biscotti

    Easter simnel biscotti

    The flavours of biscotti can be easily changed to add what you have, These are inspired by the cake popular at easter simnel cake,

    For my hazelnut chocolate and orange biscotti find the recipe here

    These can be made with self raising but do not add any more baking powder.

    These crunchy biscotti are best enjoyed dipped in a drink.

    simnel biscotti

    simnel cake inspired biscotti Easter

    biscotti with spices, dried fruit, marzipan and almonds with a little amaretto
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 40 minutes mins
    Course: Snack
    Cuisine: Italian
    Ingredients Method

    Ingredients
      

    • 300 g plain flour (if you are short on plain flour you can switch for self raising flour but not add any extra baking powder)
    • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
    • 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
    • 140 g caster sugar
    • 3 large eggs
    • 45 g ground almonds
    • zest of one orange
    • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    • seeds from 5 cardamon pods
    • 1/8 tsp all spice
    • 40 g flaked almonds
    • 75 g mixed dried fruit (like currants or raisins)
    • 2 tbsp amaretto
    • 25 g marzipan chopped into small chunks

    Method
     

    1. Preheat the oven to 180c. 350f
      Grind the seeds from the cardamon pods with a pastel and mortar
      once ground add to a bowl with the other spices, flour, sugars, baking powder, ground almonds and a good pinch of salt and mix
      add the orange zest, flaked almonds, dried fruit, and chopped marzipan and then mix in
      then beat the egg until frothy and add to the bowl with the amaretto and mix in.
      use your hands to bring it into a soft dough, then on a floured sheet of baking paper shape into a long log and place on tray. (if the dough is too wet then use some extra flour to help you shape it if needed)
      Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and turn the temperature down to 150c
      slice the log of dough at an angle using a sharp knife (i find a bread knife works well) and then place them flat on the baking tray and return to the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden.
      let cool and serve with vin santo or coffee They will keep in an air tight container for 3 weeks.
    quote

    For my hazelnut chocolate and orange biscotti find the recipe here

    You might also like

    • Rhubarb flower cake

      Candied rhubarb flower cake- raspberry rhubarb and white chocolate

    • Hokkaido milk bread

      Hokkaido milk bread-laminated morning buns with white chocolate gianduja

    • foragers pork pie - wild garlic pork pie

      Foragers wild garlic pork pies and a look at trends

    Biscotti

    SIGN UP TO GET MY NEWSLETTER

    Reader Interactions

    OLDER
    NEWER

    5 Comments

    1. Ruth Miranda says

      April 3, 2020 at 6:55 am

      I love the light and the mood in these photos, Aimee. Hope you’re doing well.

    2. jultchik says

      April 10, 2020 at 8:44 pm

      great light and fantastic composition!

      • twiggstiudios says

        April 12, 2020 at 9:34 pm

        thank you x

    3. Mary Chapin says

      April 3, 2021 at 7:34 pm

      In Canada, I have painstakingly converted grams to ml, tsps and cups, and.. my ‘dough’ is VERY dry – impossible to form into log, so I added a third beaten egg(&a drop more Amaretto) and finally formed a log. It’s in the oven now- but I’m nervous about slice-ability!?
      Is it possible that this published recipe is missing a wet/moist ingredient?

      • gd_support says

        April 3, 2021 at 7:55 pm

        hi mary, im sorry to hear you had problems, it was the opposite for me and i found the dough to be quite wet, i have read that brisitsh large eggs are called extra large eggs in America so i wonder if that is also the same in caranda, hopefully the extra egg that you added will make up for it. let me know how it goes xx

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there, I'm Aimee

    A food and photography lover. Welcome to Twigg studios. If you would like to find out more about me then head to my bio.

    LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

    free visual storytelling guide

    Categories

    • baking (80)
    • cake (27)
    • dinner (14)
    • Drinks (2)
    • pasta (11)
    • photography (1)
    • recipe (186)
    • sweet (52)
    • tips (6)
    • Travel (6)
    • Uncategorized (827)
    Visit Twiggstudios's profile on Pinterest.

    Recent Posts

    • Hazelnut brown butter speculaas cookies
    • Grape and roasted hazelnut frangipane galette
    • Zesty vanilla Victoria sponge with rose macerated strawberries
    • Homemade Elderflower liqueur
    • Roast Strawberry Daiquiri & Pavlova
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

    Visit Twiggstudios's profile on Pinterest.

    Recent Posts

    • Hazelnut brown butter speculaas cookies
    • Grape and roasted hazelnut frangipane galette
    • Zesty vanilla Victoria sponge with rose macerated strawberries
    • Homemade Elderflower liqueur
    • Roast Strawberry Daiquiri & Pavlova

    HELP

    • HOME
    • ABOUT ME
    • CONTACT ME
    Get in the know.
    Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates.
    As a welcome you will receive my presentation on visual storytelling
    Thank you for subscribing!

    INFO

    • E-mail Me

    twigg studios © 2025 - DESIGNED BY HERPARK STUDIO