Here’s to my last blog post (and cookie recipe) of 2023.
Paximadia means twice baked Greek cookies, in other words biscotti. You essentially bake a big log (or two) then cut them, then bake them again. Hence, you are baking them twice. Some Greek Orthodox folks fast during certain times throughout the year. These fasts limit the types of food that are allowed, not all food entirely. One period of fasting is for a 40 day period prior to Christmas day. These biscotti are a good option to have during the fast because they do not contain eggs or dairy.
These biscotti have a hard texture, like you would expect from any biscotti. Some Greeks will add nuts, dried fruit, or even a little ouzo to their paximadia. I skipped all that and kept it simple with a hint of orange flavor and cinnamon. I love that you can even see the orange zest in these beauties.
These are not especially sweet, which I actually love because you don’t need a lot of sugar to taste delicious. My husband and I find that these are the perfect treat to have first thing in the morning with a cup of American coffee or Greek coffee.
I wish you a happy holidays and all the best for a healthy and happy 2024!
Paximadia – Greek Biscotti Recipe
(Makes about 34 cookies)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- zest from 1 orange
- 1/2 cup orange juice (equivalent to about 1 orange)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups plus 3/8 cup all purpose flour (equivalent to 405 grams)
- about 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a silicon mat or parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set it aside.
- In a big bowl, mix together the olive oil, sugar, cinnamon, and orange zest. These are the wet ingredients.
- In a small bowl, mix together the orange juice and baking soda. Make sure the bowl is a bit bigger than you think you need for this. It will foam up and you don’t want it to spill.
- Add the orange juice mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix everything together.
- Gradually mix in the flour.
- On a very lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into 2 separate logs that are about 12 inches long and 2 and 1/2 inches wide each..
- Transfer each log to a prepared baking sheet. (They should fit two to a sheet.) You may need to re-shape the logs a bit on the baking sheet because they will lose some of their shape during the transfer.
- Gently press the sesame seeds into the top of the shaped dough.
- Bake them in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Take the cookie sheet out of the oven.
- Lower the temperature of the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Let the biscotti cool on the cookie sheet until they are cool enough to handle and cutting them doesn’t deform them.
- Remove the cooled biscotti logs from the baking sheets. Using a sharp knife, cut each log into 1/2 inch wide slices. I cut them on a slight diagonal so the ends have an interesting angle.
- Arrange the slices, cut side down, back onto the baking sheet.
- Place them back in the oven (at the lower temperature) and bake the biscotti for an additional 28 minutes. After 14 minutes, flip the slices over so the other cut side is facing down.
- Transfer the completed biscotti to a cooling rack and let them cool.
Adapted from: herbs & flour
