Inspired by Cooking Light, December 2003

A variation of the classic Italian biscotti enriched with the spiciness of ginger and the sensual taste of Macadamia nuts. Good with tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

• 160 grams Macadamia nuts – cut into quarters

• 20 grams chopped pistachios

• 2 ½ cups of flour

• ¼ cup of sugar plus 1 tsp for dusting

• 2 TBSPs of ginger honey, if you only have normal honey add more chopped crystallized ginger

• 2 tsps baking powder

• 2 TBSPs lemon zest

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 TBSP chopped crystallized ginger

• 3 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ tsp edible lavender

• ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary

• ½ tsp fresh ground pepper

• 2 packs of vanilla sugar

Putting it all together:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 170 degrees Celsius
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar (except for the dusting sugar), baking powder, lemon zest, rosemary, lavender, pepper and vanilla sugar.
• Add the nuts and the chopped ginger.
• In a smaller bowl whisk the eggs, honey and the vanilla extract. Stir this into the flour mixture and mix well then transfer the dough to a floured board for kneading.
• Knead until smooth adding flour if needed to that it doesn’t stick and comes together as a dough.
• Divide the dough and form into logs about 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Place the logs on a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with the remaining sugar.
• Bake for approx. 30 minutes until the logs are firm on the outside.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 2 hours.
• Using a serrated knife cut the logs into approx. ¼ inch slices and place the slices on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
• Bake 9 minutes, turn the biscotti over on the sheet and bake another max. 9 minutes until slightly browned. Cool slices completely before eating or storing. They should be hard on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. These definitely improve with “age” (from day to day).