Soft biscotti are the perfect dairy-free treat for any time of the day! This recipe makes about 40-45 biscotti (depending on how thick you slice them), so they’re great for large family gatherings or the holiday season!   

Paximadakia are the small Greek version of traditional Italian biscotti. The twist for this recipe is that the biscotti are soft instead of hard like regular biscotti, which makes them so good and addicting! 

My grandma (yiayia in Greek) made paximadakia when she visited us on the weekends. She made the regular kind, but she would also make a soft version of biscotti, which was amazing! These paximadakia are soft and slightly sweet, with hints of orange, clove and cinnamon flavour.   

 

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE

If you’re looking for a crunchy biscotti recipe, you can follow this recipe, but bake the biscotti for another 10-15 minutes in the oven to get more crispy and crunchy biscotti.  Or, if you’re looking for a lemon white chocolate biscotti (who isn’t haha), then this lemon biscotti recipe is for you!

With hints of orange and subtle sweetness from the sugar, these biscotti are perfect just on their own. This simple recipe is made with freshly squeezed orange juice, oil, all-purpose flour, white granulated sugar, orange zest, pure vanilla extract, and brandy. 

HOW TO SHAPE BISCOTTI LOAVES

You can shape the biscotti loaves as wide or as narrow as you’d like.  I usually make four loaves that are approximately 3 inches wide and 10″ in length.  The dough will slightly expand as you score them and also when the loaves bake.  The length of the loaves is up to you! 

When working with the dough to shape it into loaves, grease your hands with a little bit of oil or water.  This will prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and will make it easier to shape.

Once the loaves are formed, use your fingers to gently push together the long sides of the log until you reach your desired shape. If you’d like to sprinkle the logs with raw sesame seeds, you can do that just before you place the biscotti loaves in the oven for the first bake. 

RECIPE TIPS

• Your loaves should be the same size so that they can bake evenly.
• These biscotti are smaller and not as long as traditional biscotti.   
• The dough will be sticky, but that’s ok! Allow the dough to rest in a greased bowl for 10-15 minutes before shaping it into loaves. Lightly grease your hands with oil or water to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
• Since we’re making soft biscotti, the second bake will be at a lower temperature for only 15-20 minutes. If you like more crunch for your biscotti, you can bake it in the oven for longer. 

INGREDIENT NOTES

Below are some notes about the ingredients used for this recipe.  For a full list of ingredients, please review the recipe card below.   

Flour: I recommend all-purpose flour for this recipe.  The dough is meant to be sticky, but if it’s too sticky and hard to shape, you may need to add some extra flour.  But be careful not to add too much flour, or the biscotti will be dry. 

Extra virgin olive oil: Adding a small amount of extra virgin olive oil adds richness and more flavour to the biscotti than when only using vegetable oil.  If you don’t have olive oil on hand, then you can swap it out for more mazola oil or another vegetable oil.   

Eggs: The eggs should be at room temperature. Allow them to sit out of the fridge at room temperature for about an hour if possible. If the eggs are at room temperature, they mix better with the sugar. 

Orange juice: I recommend fresh orange juice for this recipe to maximize the flavour. For approximately 1/4 a cup of orange juice, you’ll need 1 large navel orange.  The amount of orange juice you get from one orange will vary on the size and ripeness of the orange. 

If you have a carton of orange juice in your fridge and you’d like to use that instead, then you can use it instead of fresh orange juice, but you would want to use no-pulp orange juice with no added sugar. Otherwise, it may change the flavour, texture, and sweetness of the biscotti.   

Cognac or brandy: Both cognac and brandy enhance the flavour of these biscotti, but you don’t need to include any alcohol if you don’t want to.  

Orange zest: It’s best to use fresh zest because there is more flavour. If you zest the orange and let it sit out for too long or refrigerate it overnight, it will lose some flavour. When zesting oranges, zest only the bright outside skin. Getting too deep into the white part, known as the pith, can be bitter. 

Sesame seeds: Sesame seeds are optional, but be sure to get raw sesame seeds.  The pre-toasted ones will burn too quickly in the oven. 

 

HOW TO MAKE SOFT GREEK BISCOTTI: STEP BY STEP

STEP 1: Preheat your oven: Your oven temperature should be at 350 degrees F on convection bake.   

STEP 2: Mix the wet ingredients. Use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment to beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and brandy in a mixing bowl.  Beat the egg mixture until it’s frothy and pale yellow in colour.  Zest the oranges and then cut them in half to squeeze the juice.  Then add in both the olive oil and mazola oil, orange juice, and orange zest.  While adding in these ingredients, the mixer should be on low-medium speed (#2 or #4 on a KitchenAid mixer).  

STEP 3: Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift five and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour into a large bowl. Add in the cinnamon, ground clove powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Whisk together. 

STEP 4: Mix together dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Clean a medium-sized surface like your kitchen counter or table.  You’ll use this area to shape the biscotti dough into loaves.  With the mixer on low, slowly spoon the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue to mix the ingredients in the mixer. 

Once the dry ingredients are absorbed, turn off the mixer.  The dough will be slightly sticky but should be pliable.  Lightly oil a separate glass bowl or stainless steel medium-sized bowl. Transfer the dough from the mixing bowl to the greased bowl and let the dough rest for about 10-15 minutes, uncovered at room temperature.   

STEP 5: Roll the dough into loaves. After 10-15 minutes, transfer the dough from the greased bowl to a clean, flat surface. Rub some oil on the palms of your hand, form the dough into a ball, and then roll it out horizontally into one log.  Use a sharp knife to cut the biscotti dough into four pieces of equal size.

STEP 6: Score the loaves.  Shape the dough with your hands to create flat, narrow loaves.  The length is up to you, but the width should be about 2-3 inches wide.  It’s a good idea to keep the loaves similar in size so that they bake evenly.  The biscotti will expand slightly when baking and when you press down to score them. 

Use a butter knife to score the dough diagonally into pieces about 1/2″ – 3/4 inch wide. But make sure that the knife doesn’t go all the way through to the bottom of the cookie sheet.  You can make the biscotti pieces thicker if you’d like.  Thicker biscotti will need longer to bake in the oven. 

STEP 7: Bake the loaves (first bake). Place the scored loaves on a non-stick baking sheet and allow them to bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 325 degrees F on convection bake or until lightly golden brown.  

STEP 8: Cool and cut the loaves into biscotti. Let the loaves cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, and then carefully transfer them to a wire rack. Allow the loaves to cool for at least 15-20 minutes on a cooling rack.

This step will help prevent the biscotti from crumbling as easily when you cut them into pieces. Transfer the loaves to a cutting board and use a sharp serrated bread knife to cut the biscotti along the score lines all the way to the bottom. 

 

 STEP 9: Second bake.  Place the cut biscotti on the baking sheet and back in your oven for 15-20 minutes at 250 degrees F on convection bake.  The low temperature of the oven and longer baking time will allow the biscotti to bake without browning too much. Once they’re ready, remove them from the oven and place the biscotti on a wire rack to cool. Time to enjoy soft and delicious paximadakia!  

HOW CAN I MAKE SOFT BISCOTTI CRISPY? 

You’re in luck! If you want to make these into hard biscotti, then once you cut the soft pillowy loaves all the way to the bottom, place the cut biscotti back onto the cookie sheet and bake them again for at least 30 minutes at 250 degrees F.  The longer the biscotti is in the oven, the crispier they will be.

HOW LONG DOES BISCOTTI LAST? 

This recipe makes about 40-45 cookies (depending on their thickness), which is great because soft biscotti can last for about a week at room temperature in an airtight container.  But, they will taste fresher if eaten within a couple of days from baking.  Hard biscotti can also be stored at room temperature but have a longer shelf life since they’ll already be crunchy. You can enjoy hard biscotti for up to two weeks!   

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