Biscotti and Other Cookies

Strictly speaking, biscotti, as their name implies, are baked twice. The dough is formed into logs and given a first baking; then the baked logs are sliced diagonally and returned to the oven for a second baking. Nowadays the term biscotti is used generically for all types of cookies.

And Italians love their cookies. Pastry shops and espresso bars compete in the beauty and variety of the biscotti they offer. Until recently, when packaged biscotti began making inroads on the freshly baked variety, most pastry shops prepared immense assortments of biscotti for a large cookie-consuming public.