The Untoasted Biscotti

One of my favorite cookies is a softly lemon flavored cookie that's been in my family for generations. With its cake like texture and sweet frosting, it's pure joy to the taste buds. The interesting part about this cookie is it only looks like a biscotti! I eagerly bake these up every Christmas season. I hope you enjoy them. If the recipe is confusing, feel free to add comments and I'll be happy to clarify.


The recipe:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 1/2 cups Crisco
6 eggs
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 t lemon zest or orange peel
2 1/2 cups of flour
6 t baking powder (1 per egg)
1/2 t salt

Confectioners sugar

Step 1: Melt Crisco and allow to cool until it's tepid.
Step 2: While the Crisco is cooling, beat eggs, sugar and lemon zest; mix well.
Step 3: In a separate bowl sift flour, salt & baking powder together.
Step 4: Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix very well. Then add the tepid Crisco; beat until very smooth.

The batter needs to be the correct consistency. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes so the baking powder activates. If it's too watery, add a little more flour. It should be the consistency of rubber cement. Put the mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut the corner so the width of the bag is 1 inch. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and pipe dough in straight lines to form logs on the sheet. These expand approx. 1/4 inch on both sides so try to leave enough room for the cookie. Pipe another line of dough on top of the logs you already piped. Make sure there are no seems by blending the newly piped log into your bottom log. Avoid flattening the dough. The goal is to have logs that are approx. 3/4 inch high and 1 inch thick.

Bake the logs for 15-20 minutes watching carefully. They are done when a cake tester comes out clean and are lightly golden brown. Transfer the logs onto cooling racks. Prepare a frosting (see recipe below). Once cooled, ice the logs and top with jimmies. When the icing has hardened, slice. Store in a tightly fitted container to avoid them going stale.

Icing:
Mix 1 c of confectioners sugar with enough water to make a frosting that is spreadable with a knife. Add 1/4 t of lemon zest if you'd like.

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