Pie Crust Biscotti

Heating apple cider with a cinnamon stick transforms it into a heavenly fall drink. Add a piece of this biscotti from Cupcake Project, and apple pie flavors dance in your mouth. I decreased the recipe to a quarter the original size and ended up with 7 biscotti, enough to savor and not too much to lead to gluttony. (That's why all the rest of my recipes exist.)

Pie Crust Biscotti
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 egg yolks
Grated zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Clean your counter well, and pour flour onto the counter. Make a well in the flour, and put all of the other ingredients in the well. Using your hands, work the center ingredients into a paste, and then knead in the flour. If necessary, dip your fingers in water while you are working to help the dough stick together better.

Instead of putting the pie crust dough into a pie plate, form it into a flat rectangular(ish) shape on a Silpat- or parchment-lined cookie sheet.  My rectangle for my quarter batch was about 1/2-inch tall.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the top and edges just begin to brown. Remove from the oven, and cool until you are comfortable touching the biscotti.  Carefully slice the biscotti without moving them at all.

Lower the oven temperature to 300°F. Return the cookie sheet to the oven, and bake for another 35 minutes or until the tops begin to harden (they won't fully harden until they cool).

Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Serve immediately with hot apple cider or store in a loosely covered container. 
 

 And, yes, it is so good you'll have visions repeating in your mind like this tricked-out photo my husband took.