Jasmine tea was my introduction to the beautiful world of tea. Its light floral and fragrant flavor makes it a great complement to any meal or dessert. However, I noticed that unlike other teas such as Earl Grey or matcha, jasmine tea is rarely a featured ingredient in other dishes. As such, I decided to make it the guest star in one of my favorite desserts: biscotti. Growing up in New Jersey, I rarely had coffee or tea without a crunchy accompanying piece of biscotti, which literally translates to “twice baked” in Italian. This biscotti recipe is super simple to make and the subtle jasmine flavor adds a touch of gourmet to a classic treat.
Jasmine Tea Biscotti (Yields 1 Dozen)
• 5 tsp loose jasmine tea
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a mortar and pestle to crush jasmine tea leaves into a coarse powder. A spice grinder works well too. As a rule of thumb, finer powder infuses the dough with jasmine tea flavor whereas coarser powder releases flavor when you bite a tea leaf.
2. Whisk together eggs, sugar and oil until mixture becomes foamy and pale yellow. Stir in crushed jasmine tea leaves.
3. Add in flour, baking powder and salt. Stir with a spatula until you form a solid dough.
4. Spread biscotti dough onto a baking sheet to form a 12 x 4 log of 1 inch thickness. Bake for 40 minutes.
5. Remove dough from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes but no more than 10 minutes. If you begin slicing the dough too soon, the pieces may crumble but if you wait too long, the dough with harden and become tougher to slice cleanly. Slice biscotti into 1 inch slices
6. Lay biscotti slices on a baking sheet, flat side down and bake for 10 minutes. Turn over and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
7. Serve with jasmine tea (obviously!). Biscotti can last up to a week when kept in an airtight container. In my opinion, biscotti tastes even better after a day or so when it’s super crunchy and dunkable.
