Biscotti alla Birra - Beer Cookies - recipe

Nicole, For the Love of Food


Ok, YES, you read that correctly - BEER COOKIES.

I know, I know, most of you are thinking - blah, she's gone mad - but I assure you, you will LOVE these cookies!

Actually, this is not my own recipe, but rather that of my other partner for Taste&Create, Rosella, from Ma Che ti sei mangiato…. She calls them (in Italian) Boscotti alla Birra.

Oh, and did you know that, currently, Rosella is the only bloger who is part of Taste&Create whose blog is NOT in English! This is her second time around, as her partner I got to look at all the pretty pictures and then ask her to translate the recipe. It worked really well.

When I was making these cookies I couldn't help but notice that I was basically making a sweetened version of pie crust with cold beer substituted of water. Genius! What will she think of next?!

Rosella mentioned that the first day you will taste the beer flavor in the cookies after then you won't, and she was right. I really did enjoy that hint of beer in the cookies - reminds me of fall.

But, forget fall, I will eat these cookies any time of the year!

I was unsure what shape to cut the cookies into, so I made a few different shape. These are the wider ones, I also made little balls and a few thinner strips. All the shapes worked well, so you can cut them any way you want. Oh, and that nice looking golden color you see there - that's caramelized fructose. This stuff is great!

Here is the translated recipe:

Biscotti alla Birra (biscuits with beer)
Ingredients:
250 grams Flour
125 grams Butter, softened and cut into table-spoon sized pieces
60 ml (4 Tablespoons) of cold Beer
1 Tablespoon Fructose (or sugar)
200 grams Fructose (or sugar) to decorate

Directions:
Preheat oven at 180°C (356°F).

In a mixing bowl combine the flour and 1 tablespoon of fructose. With a pastry cutter, work in the butter until you have fine crumbs. Add the beer and mix in and knead with your hands until you have a "ball of pasta". Place n plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove from refrigerator and place on a cutting board, but keep the plastic wrap underneath the dough. Press the dough ball down and flatten a bit to get thinner cookies. Then, remove the plastic wrap and using a large sharp knife, cut thin slices Afterwards, cut in thin slices. Press the cookies into fructose and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. and bake for about 12-15 minutes.