Saint & Olive's Biscottis Are Amazing - San Francisco

In a world filled with cookies, is there room for another?

If they are Saint & Olive's biscotti, the answer is yes.

Olive Loew dusted off her great-aunt's biscotti recipe eight years ago, looking for an outlet to take her mind off her day job as a social worker and addiction counselor.

Over time, she considered legitimizing the hobby; she applied and was accepted to La Cocina's incubator program last October, and began ramping up production in February (look for the biscotti at Rainbow Grocery in two weeks).

Now she makes some three dozen different variations ($2 apiece), ranging from tried and true (fig-and-anise) to outré flavors like sweet-potato-maple-bacon and Cheddar-apple, a combination inspired by Loew's internship at Mission Pie. Some, like the prosciutto-Parmesan and black-pepper-walnut, would be more at home alongside a glass of wine than a cup of tea.

But our favorite flavor, the peanut-butter-molasses, is a nostalgic treat that deserves a glass of ice-cold milk. To the basic biscotti dough, Loew adds roasted peanuts, peanut butter and molasses; more molasses is rippled in the center of the cookie. Gently sweet and righteously peanutty, they're welcome in our tin anytime.

Saint & Olive biscotti are currently available at Martha & Bros. Coffee Company, 3868 24th St. (at Sanchez St.); 415-641-4433 or marthabros.com