[Photograph: Ron Haviv]

Danielle Di Vecchio, an actress whose credits include The Sopranos and Ugly Betty, had followed in her Florentine grandmother's footsteps, making biscotti and handing it out to friends at the holidays. Then, after 9/11, an opera singer friend hosting a fundraiser asked her to donate biscotti as favors to send home with the guests. The feedback and requests for more gave Di Vecchio the confidence to go ahead with starting a business, especially after a show in which she was supposed to act was cancelled. "I thought, now what am I going to do? The rent is due."

The venture began with a Word document. "I emailed it to 300 people, then went for a walk," she says. "I came back to 20 orders."

These days, Biscotti Di Vecchio operates out of a commercial kitchen in Long Island City and can be found at Bloomingdale's cafés, in stores like Union Market and Manhattan Fruit Exchange, and at the Brooklyn Flea. But every one is still hand cut by Di Vecchio and receives the same attention as when she was working out of her Hell's Kitchen apartment.

"You have to maintain the integrity of the product," she says. "People say you don't have to use that kind of chocolate, you can use a machine to cut them—no. You have to remain true to the original recipe and the original intent."

While she laughs when she imagines her grandmother's reaction to flavors like Cayenne Cherry Chocolate Chunk or White Chocolate Macademia Nut, she says the basic recipe isn't that far off from the original. "My grandmother's recipe calls for butter, which isn't traditional," di Vecchio explains; "Biscotti were typically very hard cookies that kept for a long time. These are softer."

To order any of the eight sweet and three savory flavors or to check out the gift baskets di Vecchio put together with other local artisan products, visit biscottidivecchio.com.

About the author: Stephanie Klose has more mustard than you. You can follow her on twitter at @sklose.