Double Chocolate Mocha Biscotti (gluten-free)

I made these cookies over the weekend to take to a friend we were visiting for dinner. I was looking for something quick, tasty, and made with almond flour (for my husband). I found these on Elana's Pantry. They fulfilled all the above requirements, plus delicious and super easy. These little biscotti are sturdy with a nice texture, heft and crunch - these are no delicate wallflower cookies. They will definitely stand up to dunking!

Quick ingredient note: I didn't have cacao powder so I used cocoa powder. I also didn't have arrowroot powder, but cornstarch can be substituted. I used regular coffee (freshly ground, of course!), and sea salt from Slovenia (brought back from our 2015 trip) but I'm sure any good quality sea salt can be used.

Unfortunately, dinner was rescheduled but the cookies were already made so we'll just have to suck it up and eat them ourselves! ;-)

Double Chocolate Mocha Biscotti (print version)

Serves: 14 biscotti

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups blanched almond flour
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1 tablespoon organic decaf coffee, espresso grind
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup chocolate chunks

Instructions

1. In a food processor, combine almond flour, cacao powder, arrowroot powder, ground coffee, salt and baking soda
2. Pulse until ingredients are well combined
3. Pulse in honey until the dough forms a ball
4. Remove dough from food processor and work in dark chocolate with your hands
5. Form dough into 2 logs on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
6. Bake at 325° for 25 minutes, then remove from oven and cool for 1 hour
7. Cut the logs into ½ inch slices on the diagonal with a very sharp knife
8. Spread slices out on a baking sheet and bake at 300° for 12-15 minutes
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool, set, and become crispy

Flour-free Maple Walnut Biscotti

I meant to get this recipe out to all of you much sooner than now, but as the French say, c'est la vie!

I made these delicious cookies for Passover and they were a perfect accompaniment to the more traditional Freda's sponge cake.

The biscotti are just the ticket with a morning espresso or a before-bed snack. I love that these biscotti are a little heavier than other recipes. When you hold it in your hand, you think, "now THIS is a cookie." A sturdy, New Jersey kind of cookie. The kind that'll stand up to an occasional coffee or milk dunking.

From a posting on Food52, by way of Andrew Carmellini's Urban Italian cookbook, these cookies are all about flavor. Generous additions of maple syrup and brown sugar provide a little sweetness to the dough, while a mixture of chopped walnuts, cinnamon, adds crunch & texture to the biscotti tops.

Vivian Henoch, the Food52 author, wrote that the original recipe called for lemon zest and pistachios, which also sounds divine, but a little more dainty. Either way, get a load of these beauties next time you've got a hearty cookie craving.

Print, bake, eat!

Cherry, Pistachio And Vanilla Biscotti

Happy Sunday, CT Readers!


It's been awhile, I know...but I'm here with a scrumptious biscotti recipe for you.  


This is the second in the series of baking my way through Susan Rosso's NYT article "Not All Biscotti Are Created Equal."  You may remember the earlier post on Traditional Italian Almond Biscotti.  


I really like this latest incarnation because they are hearty.  No delicate, fragile cookies here.  Of course, the whole point of biscotti is a cookie tough enough to stand up to dunking and these certainly make the grade.  But the sensual combination of vanilla (a whopping 2 TB!), toasted pistachios, and fat, juicy cherries put these over the top. 


I think next at bat in this series (well, it is Spring...) will either be the Anise, Orange And Pignoli Biscotti or Maple Walnut Biscotti With Maple Icing. Stay tuned...


Print recipe here!

Snowstorm Cookies

Almonds in the pre-biscotti stage

The Northeast, once again, is facing a major snowstorm. It's a once a week event lately and people's nerves are frayed.  But if you ask me, there is nothing a good cookie can't cure.  So for your reading and eating pleasure, here now Traditional Italian Almond Biscotti and Kitchen Sink Cookies.


The biscotti are from an excellent NPR story, Not All Biscotti Are Created Equal (how true). Susan Russo, author of Food Blogga, and NPR contributor, wrote a terrific article on the many faces of biscotti.  They all look terrific and I plan to try all of them, but I wanted to start with the most traditional to see if they could take me back to my Italian roots (spoiler alert: they do).

A slight difference in the baking method of these biscotti is that they don't really go through a second baking like most biscotti recipes.  Instead, after the first baking and cooling, they are cut, placed back on the baking sheets, and sent back into the turned off (still warm) oven for 30-60 minutes. 


Jam-packed with whole toasted almonds, with the fragrance of fresh orange zest, and baked super crisp, these biscotti reminded me very much of the cookies my Grandmother used to make and the ones I loved from my first trip to Italy. 


Print Biscotti Recipe Here


From delicate biscotti to hearty Kitchen Sink cookies.  As an aside, I must share with you that I really detest the name of these cookies because it conjures up visions of just throwing in whatever you've got laying around and that is so not the case.  These cookies come from the Martha Stewart cookie collection and since I didn't create them I'll just have to put up with the name.


If you don't think about it too much, you can might be able to convince yourself that these babies are actually good for you.  What with the oats, raisins, pecans, and dried apricots they are at the same time chewy, sweet, and nutty.  Throw in the semi-sweet chocolate and they become rich and luxurious.  The recipe supplies a nice variation to skip the oats and add in some coconut to transform these into tropical delights.

The recipe calls for forming the dough into 2" balls, which I did, but I felt like they were a tad too big.  I know, right now some of you are saying to yourself, "is she kidding? a cookie too big?" Yes, there is such a thing.  

A very satisfying cookie,  

oozing with chocolate, raisins, and apricots!

So I might not like the name but I really like the cookie, and I guess that's all that counts!


Bake up one of these cookies the next time you are staring down a snowstorm and you'll come through just fine.


Print Kitchen Sink Cookies Recipe Here

Holiday Baking

How are you doing with your holiday baking? I have been doing alot of baking since our return from the islands a couple of weeks ago. Let's see, so far I have made:

• Mexican Wedding Cookies
• Chocolate Cream Cups
• Lemon Pistachio Biscotti
• Chocolate-Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti
• Toasted Coconut Shortbread
• and just today, World Peace Cookies

Whew! That's alot of baking. And I'm not done yet. Before Christmas next Friday, I will probably bake another batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies (because they are that good and that easy), and perhaps more World Peace Cookies because they freeze so well. Also on my baking agenda this week: Cranberry and Cornmeal Cake with Caramel-Walnut Topping (for Christmas dinner dessert) and Holiday Bundt Cake (probably to take to our friends in North Carolina for the New Year - shhh, don't tell them).

I have not made the Cranberry-Cornmeal Cake (courtesy of Giada deLaurentis) before but it sounds good and quite festive so I thought I'd give it a go. You can get the recipe here if you'd like to try it.

The Holiday Bundt Cake is a favorite from Dorie Greenspan's award-winning "Baking From My Home to Yours." I made this a few times last year during the holidays and everybody loved it. I think my friends in NC will enjoy it. It includes all the fabulous flavors of the season: cranberries, pumpkin, apples, pecans, cinnamon (you get the idea) and it keeps well. It's great dressed up with a little freshly whipped cream for dessert or cut into nice thick slices, toasted up for brunch.

The World Peace Cookies (what a great name for a cookie) are also from Dorie Greenspan's book and couldn't be easier, or more delicious. Very chocolate-y and moist, with the added touch of sea salt, to give you that sweet/salty sensation that everybody loves.

Let me know what delicious holiday treats you are baking this week (use the comment section below)!

Finally, one quick housekeeping note: I've added a "search" function to the blog (over in the right-hand nav) to make it easier to find a recipe or a link from a past entry.

Happy Holidays!

Eat well, stay warm, and be happy!

Biscotti

Hi, there.

The Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti turned out great. Now that I think about it, both items I baked yesterday came from Williams-Sonoma recipes (see early Saturday morning post about scones).  This biscotti recipe comes from an older W-S cookbook called "Cookies & Biscotti," part of the Time-Life series published back in the early nineties.  These biscotti are so good - they have all the essential qualities of a good biscotti - nuts, cinnamon, espresso, a nice texture, a good crunch, oh, and chocolate.  Some of you probably think chocolate would be the first ingredient I mention, but no.  I am not one of those self-proclaimed chocolaholics. I like chocolate just fine but if I have a piece of good quality dark chocolate once every six months, that's alot.  Give me cinnamon, give me nuts of any kind, give me cardamom, give me a nice coffee cake and I am just the happiest woman around.  And why I think I like these biscotti so much is that the chocolate is sort of an add-on flavor, not the major player.

Well, I must run now, but I've left the biscotti recipe here for you to try - let me know what you think.  They really are delightful.  And I think that even if you are chocolate-crazed, you will find these biscotti hit just the right note.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 t baking powder

1 t ground cinnamon

1/8 t salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp

1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar (I used dark)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 T instant espresso powder

2 eggs

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

Preheat oven to 325.  Butter two baking sheets.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl; set aside.

Combine the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and espresso powder in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add the walnuts and chocolate chips and mix in. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a prepared baking sheet. Using lightly floured hands, form each half into a log 3 inches wide and 3/4 inch high. If you like, you can sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar over the logs just before baking - not necessary, the cookies are great with or without the sprinkle.

Bake until firm to the touch, about 25-30 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Leave the oven set at 325.

Using a spatula carefully transfer the logs to a work surface. Using a serrated knife cut on the diagonal into slices 1/2 inch thick. Arrange the slices cut-side down on the baking sheets and bake until the bottoms are brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the slices over. Bake until the bottoms are brown, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 3 dozen.

Baking Again!

Greetings, Culinary Blog Readers.

It seems like I am going to be doing alot of baking today.  We are having dinner at a friend's home this evening and even though our hostess very graciously said not to bring a thing, I really can't do that (it's in my genes). But I don't want to usurp whatever dessert she is planning so I am going to make these wonderful biscotti I made a few weeks ago.  Last night, after some half-way decent Chinese food, I went to Home Goods and found a very pretty little glass storage container that will hold the biscotti perfectly. This way, she can either serve the biscotti as a side to her dessert or just keep them for another time. More on the biscotti later.  

This morning I decided to whip a batch of scones for breakfast.  My friend Katie, a similarly food-obsessed person, gave me a jar of Pear-Peach Jam and what better to go with jam than warm-from-the-oven scones.  Hmmmmmm.  It seems Katie has developed quite the jam habit, thanks to "The Jam Man" from the Ridgewood Farmer's Market. Katie was nice enough to share some of her just scored jam with me and I needed something special to sample it with.  I began thinking about this when she bestowed the precious bottle on me earlier in the week.  So this morning when I woke up at 6am (no rest for baking fanatics) I began scouring my files and the Internet for the perfect scone recipe.  I'm sure you know that really good scones contain either buttermilk or cream - I had neither in the house.  Now you can "make" buttermilk by taking regular whole milk and adding a little bit of lemon juice to it but I really don't think it's the same (just MHO).  So this made my scone search a little more time consuming.  All the recipes in my files and the listings on Epicurious.com and FoodTV.com called for one of these two ingredients.  All of a sudden, I remembered that when I worked at Williams-Sonoma many years ago, we would whip up scones frequently when we wanted to demo a new jam or baking pan; and we would almost never have buttermilk or cream in the store refrigerator.  Lo and behold, the W-S web site had one recipe for scones that did not include either item.  That was it!  Let me tell you - there is almost nothing better than coffee and right out of the oven scones on a Saturday morning (faithful readers know this IS my favorite day).

Allora ("so" in Italian), I'm off to do a few errands and when I come back I'll be baking Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti.  See you later.