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Susan S. Yeske: Recipe of the month -- “Perfect timing” brings son back home

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When Karen Sitler was expecting her son she decided to design a career that allowed her to spend maximum time with him.

A trained baker, she opted to create a product she could make while caring for her son. It was a time when biscotti – the low-fat, lightly sweetened twice-baked Italian cookies – were riding the nation’s huge coffee wave as the perfect accompaniment.

Sitler set up a professional bakery in her Hilltown home and crafted her own biscotti recipes, offering them for sale at the Doylestown Farmers Market. The cookies were instantly popular, so she expanded her business by selling to coffee shops around Bucks County. Soon the familiar glass jars of the Bucks County Biscotti Company could be found in New Jersey and beyond.

Fast forward to just before the start of the pandemic last year. That’s when that little boy, now a college graduate with a degree in marketing, came home to work with his parents, Karen and Craig, in the family business.

“I was working in New York,” said Riley Silbert. “I never thought I would come back home and work at the company.”

It turned out his timing was perfect.

Like most businesses, Bucks County Biscotti was hit hard by the pandemic.

“In March of 2020, everything fell off a cliff,” said Riley Silbert. The customer base dropped dramatically as people stopped going to coffee and sandwich shops, and the supply chain became problematic as ingredients stopped being readily available.

Riley’s background in marketing and rebranding became integral in the survival of the family business.

“I started looking for ways to change our model,” he said. “I created an online retail platform,” and restyled the packaging.

Using social media, he reached out to their loyal local customer base, and gradually the newly restyled business began to take off.

The Sitlers still supply biscotti to coffee shops in Bucks and beyond, but the website (buckscountybiscotti.com) has caught the public’s interest and did well over the Christmas season.

Despite the expansion, some things remain the same. The Silberts still maintain their “honor box” system for sales to their neighbors on Creamery Road in Hilltown, outside their bakery. The contactless system allows customers to buy $5 bags of biscotti.

Another thing that remains the same is that Riley’s parents are still very much involved in the business with eight flavors of biscotti made year-round plus two seasonal flavors in the fall and winter.

The Silberts don’t share their biscotti recipes, but this one from allrecipes.com will do if you want to try making your own.

Biscotti

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

3¼ cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon anise extract, or 3 drops anise oil

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Step 2. In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and anise flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a log almost as long as your cookie sheet. Place log onto prepared cookie sheet and press down to ½ inch thickness.

Step 3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When the logs are cool enough to handle, carefully slice each one crosswise into ½ -inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.


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