"I just made these, and I, too, didn't read the reviews first. Only glanced at the five star rating. I probably would have made them anyway, because obviously biscotti is supposed to be hard, but these seem quite hard, like stale hard. I omitted the cornmeal simply because I didn't have it on hand. The lemon zest makes it tasty. And I added some chocolate chips and walnuts. It's not a sweet cookie, which is why it's really more for "grown-ups." Don't think I'll make again because of the hardness, though.