Skip to main content

Almond Bread (Valentine's Day)


I got hold of this Almond Bread recipe from a very old edition of Australian Women's weekly.  After scrutinising the recipe and on googling for more information I realised that Almond Bread and Biscotti is one and the same cookie/biscuit.  The cookie is very crunchy and there's not a drop of oil.  It's not too sweet either as I've reduced the amount of sugar.

Updated on 26th April 2013.  Many thanks to an anonymous reader who highlighted the difference between Almond Bread and Biscotti.   They're not the same.  Almond Bread has almonds and egg whites while Biscotti calls for whole eggs.



After whisking the egg whites till stiff, add in the flour, mix well and add in the whole unblanched almonds.


Mixture before baking and after baking......... just light brown.



Sliced almond bread on a paper lined baking sheet before baking. 
Cooling baked almond bread on a wire rack.











Serve just one slice with after-dinner-coffee or as a delightfully crisp biscuit with ice cream.
Happy Valentine's Day!


Ingredients
  • 3 egg whites
  • 120 gm plain flour - sifted
  • 90 gm caster sugar
  • 120 gm unblanched whole almonds
Method
  1. Whisk egg whites till foamy on slow speed, add in sugar and whisk on higher speed till egg whites are stiff but not dry.  (To check whether the egg whites are done, remove and invert the whisk and if the peak of egg whites stand, then it's ready).
  2. Add in sifted flour, mix well, followed by the whole almonds.  The consistency should be soft and light.
  3. Pour mixture into a lightly greased dish, 15cm x 8cm.
  4. Bake  in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 30 mins till light brown.
  5. Let it cool in the dish completely.
  6. Remove from dish, wrap up in foil and put in the fridge for a day or two.  It can also be freezed if you wish to keep it longer.
  7. When needed, slice thinly, about 2mm thick with a serrated knife.
  8. Arrange slices onto paper lined baking sheet and bake @ 130 deg C for 45 mins. till crispy and crunchy.
  9. Store in air-tight cookie jar once completely cooled.



Other recipes on Biscotti :

1.  Pig Pig's corner   -  Nutty Slice Biscuits.
2.  Christine's Recipes  -  White chocolate macademia and lemon Biscotti.
3.  My Little Space  -  Rosy Fig and almond Biscotti.



Comments

  1. very beautiful biscotti Cheah!! happy CNY! hope you enjoyed yourself thoroughly!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are really good looking biscotti. And love the tin. so cute

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cheah, I like this, no oil and no butter. I'm bookmarking this!!Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful biscotti, very good for this Valentine's Day.
    They are a big hit in every party too!
    Thanks for the mention. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cheah, thanks for the link. That's very sweet of you. Your biscotti looks amazing and beautifully sliced. So thin! MUst be very cripsy. Mind sending me some! :o) Thanks again for sharing. Hope you're enjoying your day.
    Cheers, Kristy

    ReplyDelete
  6. j3ss kitch3n
    Thanks, Jess! Happy CNY to you and your family too!

    Jen
    Thank you. I like it too, light and crispy.

    Penny
    Spring cleaning and stumbled on the tin, so thought it will be a good prop for pics!

    Anncoo
    You are most welcome to try making it, Ann!

    Christine
    You are most welcome! Yup, my CNY visitors love them!

    Kristy
    Ya, they're very crispy and crunchy, a hit with my visitors. I 'sawed' them, that's why they're so thin!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh wow, Beautiful!! I like how you sliced it. Really thin. I can't seems to get it that thin. I bet it taste crispy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful! They are so healthy and delicious. Thanks Cheah for the mention =)

    ReplyDelete
  9. ICook4Fun
    It's easy to slice with a serrated knife once it's taken out of the freezer. As it's thin, it's crispy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Looks delicious and crispy! First time seeing biscotti sliced this thin! Would love to try it! Thanks for sharing :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jeannie
    You are most welcome! Using a serrated knife to slice them when it's just taken out from the freezer is easy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. it look so nice, crispy and yummy! (: (:

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Sweetylicious
    Thanks for dropping by my blog... Yes they're crispy and crunchy and a hit amongst my recent CNY visitors.

    ReplyDelete
  14. sorry, do you know how much the egg white weigh? coz i've got many egg whites leftover in the fridge. thank you! (:

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Sweetylicious
    I didn't weigh the egg whites in the above recipe, but I know that 1 whole egg without shell is 50ml/50 gm. I googled and found out that yes, 1 egg without shell is 50gm, 1 egg white is 30 gm and 1 yolk is 18 gm. So I suppose that for the 3 egg whites it should be 90gm. Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  16. sorry to trouble you. thank you so much for your help! (: (:

    ReplyDelete
  17. The Sweetylicious
    Not at all, you are more than welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the recipe. I have tried the recipe but my biscotti turn out to be brown. How is it that you got such light colour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you baked them too long, temperature must be very low.

      Delete
  19. Quick & easy recipe since I've mislaid mine. Thanks for the "freezing"tip. I've not done that before. Heather Yannacos

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just wanted to say thank you for this amazing recipe!!! I stumbled across your blog about 6 months ago and make the biscotti at least once every month. They are delicious and not too high in sugar. I also tried making them using 1/4 cup sifted cocoa in place of 1/4 cup flour. My husband can't stop eating them :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi, this is a great recipe but almond bread and biscotti are NOT The same thing. First of all just for clarity, biscotti just means biscuits or cookies in Italian and doesn't refer to one type. The biscotti english speaking people often refer to are actually cantucci. Almond bread and cantucci are both technically biscotti or cookies but they are not the same. Biscotti in the traditional sense in English have whole eggs and can have any nuts in them. Almonds, pistachios, glace' cherries etc. But almond bread only ever has egg whites and almonds....also even though biscotti are sliced thinly because they are quite dry and crisp and are "dunked" in coffee or tea...or even vin santo or vino cotto, almond bread is sliced really really thin because it is even harder.

    Having said all this. this is a great recipe and well worth the effort. they actually make small rectangle tins designed to cook these, whereas biscotti are hand shaped. Thank you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. my uncle just brought these for me from Australia (to Mauritius) . its very delicious. thank you for sharing the recipe.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by. Please click on 'Anonymous' if you do not have a blog but do leave your name after the comment because I would like to know who you are.

Popular posts from this blog

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts.  It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets.  This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜焖五花肉

Mui Choy is preserved mustard greens and there are two types, one is salty while the other is sweet.  There are many ways of cooking mui choy with pork belly.  Instead of braising, you can steam it with minced pork but here I am using only the sweet mui choy and I braised the pork belly with it.  This is a flavourful dish and you can serve it with plain rice or plain porridge. Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy   ~    梅菜焖五花肉 Ingredients  400 gm pork belly cut into bite size 100 gm  preserved sweet mui choy 3 cloves of garlic 2 slices ginger Seasoning for the pork belly 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce 1/4 Tbsp sugar 1/4 Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 Tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp light soya sauce Method Season the pork belly for about an hour or more.  Set aside. Soak the mui choy for 45 mins., rinse and squeeze dry.  Cut into slices Heat some oil in the wok, fry the mui choy.  Add in the ginger slices.  Stir-fry. Add in the pork  belly, fry for a while and

Steamed minced Pork with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜蒸猪肉

This is a homey, comforting dish which you can never find on the menu of a Chinese restaurant.  Perhaps you may find it in an economy rice stall.  There are two types of Mui Choy (梅菜) or preserved mustard, one is salty while the other is sweet and in this recipe, I used the latter.  The Mui Choy lends flavour and aroma to the dish and most often is paired with pork, either minced or pork belly chunks.  In this recipe, the minced meat must be with a bit of fat, otherwise the dish will turn out dry and dense.  Give this a try and see whether you like it or not. Steamed Minced Pork with Mui Choy ~  梅菜蒸猪肉  Ingredients  320 gm minced pork with a bit of fat 70 gm sweet mui choy (preserved sweet mustard green) Seasoning for minced pork 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp Shaoxing wine 1/2 tsp light soy sauce 1/2 tsp sugar 1 Tbsp oil 2 Tbsp cornflour 3 Tbsp water Method Marinate the minced pork with the above seasoning and stir the pork in one direction, till sticky.  Set