Crunchy cookies infused with fresh orange zest, Vietnamese cinnamon and cloves.  Completely addictive.

During the harsh Boston winter of 1941, with her husband serving in South East Asia and two very little girls at home (one of whom was my mother), my Grandmother Mary had grown very weary. She worked around the clock at two different jobs just to make ends meet, and she longed for the day when her life would regain its former normalcy and security.  

On a cold December afternoon, she bumped into a new neighbor who had recently arrived from Florence, Italy. This woman was a baker who had just opened a little shop in the North End, offering all sorts of marvelous Italian goodies. Over a cup of coffee, the two ladies exchanged pleasantries and stories of their Italian heritage.  As a kind gesture, the baker offered Mary a bag of her delicious biscotti and explained that the recipe had been in her family for over a hundred years.  

It was love at first bite! The cookies, infused with orange zest, cinnamon, cloves and almonds, seemed to have a magical effect on Mary, providing an immediate wave of comfort and ease. Upon seeing Mary’s delight, the baker decided to share the recipe with Mary. She said the biscotti were made with love and of course meant to be shared with others.  

Many of the ingredients were either hard to come by or very costly because of wartime food rationing, and so my grandmother held on to the recipe until the war ended. She first made the cookies for her family in 1946. Everyone liked the cookies so much that she added them to her traditional Christmas repertoire. The recipe continues to be passed down through generations in my family, and now my daughters, the fourth generation, look forward to eating crunchy, citrusy biscotti every Christmas Eve.

10 Biscotti per package.