Maple Walnut Biscotti

In my family, one either likes biscotti or they don't. My Dad and I have always been fans of the Italian cookies, the crunchier the better. (So much nicer to dip into coffee or tea if they don't immediately fall apart!) I have made them now and again, and he and I are pretty much the only consumers. Mr Minx has always contended that he does not care for the cookie. Until now.

I wanted to get a head start on making biscotti for Christmas, along with all the other various cookies we always bake, and thought I'd try a new recipe. I found one from King Arthur Flour that sounded great--maple walnut. I love both flavors, and we happened to have both ingredients on hand. I still had some of the little sample bottles of Runamok Maple syrup that I picked up at the Summer Fancy Food Show last year, each containing about 1/4 cup. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of syrup, so it seemed like kismet. But the only flavor we had a full bottle of was the Rye Barrel Infused one. Which of course tastes and smells like rye whiskey. So I sloshed in a wee bit of Old Overholt, too.

These biscotti are super crunchy, with a subtle maple flavor and a hint of something-something from the rye. Mr Minx ate several without my prompting, proclaiming them "very good." Perhaps he is coming around to enjoying super crunchy cookies and won't turn up his nose at them in the future. Or maybe I just got these exactly right for his tastes. In any case, they're certainly something I plan on baking again. Dad, of course, loved them too.

Maple Walnut Biscotti (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, toasted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup Runamok Rye-barrel infused maple syrup
1 tablespoon rye whiskey
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 cups AP Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Coarse sea salt, preferably Maldon

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Spread the walnuts on one sheet in a single layer and toast for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven, until they're light brown and fragrant. Allow nuts to cool. Reserve baking sheet and parchment.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugars, maple syrup, and rye whiskey. Add the butter, beating well to combine. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the nuts.

With floured hands, pat the dough into two rectangles each about 10" long x 4" wide and 1/2" thick on the parchment-covered baking sheet. Wet your fingers and smooth the tops. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake dough for 30 minutes. Remove baking tray from oven and let cool for about ten minutes.

With a serrated knife, slice the loaves into 1/2" thick slices. Place the slices, standing upright, if possible, in a single layer on the second parchment-lined baking sheet. If you need more room, use the sheet that the dough was baked on as well.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, turning once if biscotti are on their sides, not at all if you were able to get them to balance upright.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cherry Almond Biscotti

It's become a holiday tradition to get together with my brother to bake cookies. We tend to stick to the basics: chocolate chips and snickerdoodles. And while those are both delicious, I like a bit more variety. Sometimes I insist on making oatmeal cookies, and every once in a while I like to bake biscotti.

Because biscotti need a double baking to attain that special crispness that is so perfect when dunked in a cup of hot coffee or tea, they seem like they are extra work. But they're really not. The dough first bakes in large loaves; that's where they do their rising. Once those loaves are sliced up, you can crowd baking sheets with as many cookies as will fit, as they won't get any bigger. The second baking is merely to dry them out and make them crisp. But while they only require two trips in the oven, each baking takes a bit of time and there are two oven temperatures, so don't bake these at the same time you are attempting to make chocolate chippers.

This recipe makes 40 or so cookies, depending on how anal-retentive you are with cutting them to exactly 1/3" inch wide.

Cherry Almond Biscotti (adapted from Epicurious.com)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder and soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Blend for a few seconds to combine. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, and two tablespoons of heavy cream and mix on medium speed until dough comes together. If the dough still seems dry, add the other tablespoon of cream. Fold in the cherries and almonds.

Using floured hands, shape the dough into two logs, about 16" long. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet about 5" apart. Flatten each log to about 2" wide. Bake for 15 minutes, rotate the sheet, and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven to 250°F. Line a second baking sheet with parchment. Slice the logs into 1/3" thick slices. Arrange them, cut side down, on the two baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the sheets and bake an additional 20 minutes, until cookies are crisp. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.
 

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mocha Spice Biscotti

In their Holiday Cookie a Day slideshow, Bon Appetit featured a recipe for coffee-spice shortbread with crystallized ginger. While that combination of flavors intrigued me, I thought I might prefer to make similarly-flavored biscotti, instead. And while I'm all over coffee-flavored foods, might not a bit of chocolate make it just that much better?

In the end, I used David Lebovitz' recipe for chocolate biscotti as a starting point and used the flavorings from the shortbread recipe. The resulting cookies are the quite delicious Mocha Spice Biscotti, even better when dunked into a cup of hot coffee or cocoa.

Mocha Spice Biscotti

2 cups flour
1/2 cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons finely ground coffee
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, coffee, and spices.

In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, sugar, and vanilla extracts. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat (or parchment). Divide the dough (it will be sticky) in half, placing both halves on the baking sheet about 3" apart. Form each dough blob into a loaf about 9" long by 5" wide x about 1" high. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dough feels firm to the touch.

Remove loaves from oven and cool for about 15 minutes. Using a serrated knife, gently cut loaves into about 1/2" slices. Lay the cookies cut side down on two baking sheets and return to the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes, turning them over at the halfway point.

When the cookies are cool, you can drizzle them with a bit of chocolate: melt the chips in a microwave-safe bowl for about a minute on high. Take them out every twenty seconds or so and give them a stir to see if they are melted. Once melted, spoon the chocolate into a small zip-top plastic bag, twist closed, and cut off one tip to make a piping bag. Pipe squiggles onto the cookies. Allow to cool until chocolate has hardened before storing cookies in sealed containers.

Makes about 30 cookies.