Everything fig-scotti
Biscotti were the ‘it bake’ in the 90s and early 00s, but then
they were abandoned from dessert menus and jars in cafes – the

Mary Celeste of cookies. I succumbed to pastry peer pressure and

made them once or twice for the shop, but they never really sold,
and I didn’t persist – until I made these addictively munchable
fig-scotti, inspired by a David Lebovitz recipe, everything bagels
and a dried fig and anise sourdough loaf. I adore these with
triple cream brie.

I use my trusty biscotti formula base and tinker with the add-ins
depending on what’s in my pantry. I bake it in a tray and slice
thinly, so the final form is more seedy wafer than tooth-jarring
crescent. Use raw everything to start and keep the toasting for
the second bake, after slicing, where the flavours of the nuts and
seeds become fully realised. Biscotti – you are the everything,
once again.

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Spray a 20 cm (8 in) square or
round cake tin with cooking oil and line with baking paper to fit snugly
along the base and sides.

Square tins can vary from 20 cm (8 in) to 23 cm (9 in). If you have a larger
square, the wafers will have a thinner width, so I like a smaller square tin.

You can also use a round tin and get lovely odd lengths of wafers.

Weigh the seeds and spices together in a small bowl, then take out
20 g (¾ oz) for our pre-bake coating. With scissors, snip the stems
off the dried figs, then snip into small pieces. Add the figs and pine
nuts to the seed mix.

Put the egg, egg yolk (keep the white in a separate bowl for later) and
grated zest in a small b owl. Lightly break up with a fork.

Weigh the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and
swizzle lightly with your fingers. Lightly break up the reserved egg
white with a fork in a small bowl and set aside with a brush for later.

continued …

Keeps It’s a keeper! Airtight and room

temperature for up to 2 months.

Freshen up with a low oven re-crisp.

Makes 24 nutty, seedy snaps.

Takes Around 1½ hours.

cooking oil spray
Seedy nut mix
60 g (2 oz) pepitas (pumpkin
seeds)
40 g (1½ oz) sunflower kernels
20 g (¾ oz) sesame seeds,
white or black
20 g (¾ oz) linseeds (flax seeds)
10 g (¼ oz) poppy seeds
3 g (¹⁄₁₀ oz/½ teaspoon)
whole fennel seeds
2 g (¹⁄₁₆oz/¼ teaspoon)
whole aniseed
80 g (2¾ oz) dried figs
80 g (2¾ oz) whole pine nuts
Biscotti base
100 g (3½ oz) egg (approx.
2 eggs)
20 g (¾ oz) egg yolk (from
approx. 1 egg, reserving the
white for the final glaze)
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
200 g (7 oz) caster (superfine)
sugar
200 g (7 oz) plain (all-purpose)
flour
4 g (⅛ oz/heaped ½ teaspoon)
baking powder
3 g (¹⁄₁₀ oz/heaped ¼ teaspoon)
fine sea salt