My friends, Cino, Silvano and Maria-Rosa will be furious.
They are fiercely purist in a very Italian way. A salsa isn’t a salsa unless it’s made with tomato. A pesto isn’t a pesto unless it’s made with basil, pinenuts and Parmigiano Reggiano. And don’t even think of putting black sesame seeds into your biscotti!
Sacrilegious as it would seem, we’ve gone right ahead and done just that, and with delicious results.
Our mixture of ground black sesame seeds, egg whites, sugar, honey and, with a guilty nod to tradition, ground almonds, rolled into balls and tossed in icing sugar before baking has produced a batch of very attractively cracked ‘biscotti’.
We’re hooked. Just don’t call them biscotti or you’ll have to hide them from the Italians.
Rosie
BLACK SESAME BISCOTTI
Makes around 20
2 egg whites at warm room temperature
180 gm caster sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
150 gm black sesame seeds, finely ground
100 gm ground almonds
60 gm pure icing sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar and continue whisking for 3 minutes.
Fold in the vanilla and honey then the ground black sesame seeds and almonds, mixing well.
Sift icing sugar into a small bowl.
Drop a tablespoon of the black sesame mixture into the icing sugar, make a ball, coating well with the icing sugar. Transfer to the prepared tray. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Allow to stand for 15 minutes before baking for 15 minutes. Check after 10-12 minutes as the icing sugar on the bottoms can burn easily. Stand for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
TIP: If you find that your bottoms do over cook, try putting your baking tray on top of another while in the oven.