Olive Tapenade Biscotti

I am a big fan of olives; I think I could pretty much snack on them every day.  I thought of making savory biscotti by adding to it some black olive tapenade and fresh thyme. The tapenade gives it a nice marbled effect as well. They are really nice to eat by themselves or you can use it as a crostini and accompany it with some cheese, or any other topping that you may like. This recipe makes one log, about 26 pieces of biscotti.

Ingredients for the tapenade:

1 cup of black olives (I used Kalamata)

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 clove of garlic, peeled

1 teaspoon of capers

3 anchovy filets

¼ cup of almonds, chopped

5 sprigs of thyme

¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper

Ingredients for the biscotti:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

Pinch of sugar

85gr of butter, room temperature

2 eggs

½ cup of milk

8 sprigs of thyme

1/3 cup of the tapenade previously made

First make the tapenade. Just put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it becomes a paste.

To make the biscotti, first preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

In a large bowl, whisk the butter, then add the eggs and milk.

Slowly add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and mix well. Finally add the thyme leaves and 1/3 of a cup of the tapenade. Mix well.

Place the dough in a floured surface and form a log. Place the log in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  The dough is quite soft so you will have to re-shape it a bit once it’s on the baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then allow to cool down for about 15 minutes.

Lower the temperature of the oven to 150C/300F.

Transfer the log to a cutting board.  Using a bread knife; cut it into slices of about 1 cm thick.

Place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for another 30 minutes.

After the timer is up, turn the biscotti and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.  Once cooled, keep in an airtight container.