How to make italian cookies?

Biscotti (plural of Italian biscotto) are crisp Italian cookies traditionally flavored with anise. Traditionally, biscotti are made by baking cookie dough in two long slabs, cutting them into half inch thick pieces, and reheating them to dry them out. A basic recipe is a mix two parts flour for one part sugar with enough eggs to create a batter. To the mixture baking powder and flavourings such as anise, chocolate, or nuts are added. The slabs are baked once for some twenty five minutes. They are then cut up into individual cookies and cooked a second time for a shorter period of time. The longer the second period, the harder the cookies. Originally the cookies were twice-baked so they could be stored for long periods of time.