Visual Delights: Orange-Scented Almond Biscotti

I am currently home in Kuala Lumpur and was a little kitchen-shy until I made a visit to the supermarket in Bangsar Village and got inspired by all the gorgeous and exotic-ish ingredients available.
My mom loves coffee and biscotti so these are the first things I made:

Recipe modified from JoyofBaking

Orange-Scented Almond and Apricot Biscotti

1/2 cup blanched whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped into teeny pieces
1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped into teeny pieces
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white/brown sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1. Pan roast almonds in a shallow , non-stick skillet over medium heat, stirring every once in awhile until the almond skins begin to slightly crackle and the nuts are fragrant.Remove from heat, cool and chop up coarsely.Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.(I use foil)
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest in a big bowl.
4.In a smaller bowl, lightly beat the eggs and extract together.
5. Gradually add the egg mixture into the flour mixture and beat until a sticky dough forms. At this point, I divided them into two separate bowls.Add almonds into one bowl and the apricot/raisin mix into another.
5. My dough was unbelievably sticky and instead of adding more flour, I spooned them into two log-shaped pats on the baking sheet (spacing them by around 3 cm, mine didn't really spread) and refrigerated them for about 30 minutes.
6. Bake logs for around 25 minutes (my oven is super hot)or until firm to touch.
7. Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut log into slices 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on the diagonal. Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy.


Also! I got a new camera for graduation because my old Canon one couldn't focus properly anymore, so these are pictures taken with a Fujifilm digital camera, the image quality is not as great as before but I'm getting the hang of it.