Almond Biscotti

I feel like I am writing a blog post after ages. I have been really busy and my newest obsession of puzzles is not helping the blog either. I was approached by several blogger friends who wanted to know if I would be posting baking recipes this month for my Bake-A-Thon. To be honest, I was afraid to even commit but thought it would be nice to get back into blogging. Here is the first recipe of the season for this year. These biscottis are crumbly, delicious and addictive.

One Year Back -  Pumpkin Granola
Two Years Back - Cranberry Corn Muffins
Three Years Back - Holiday Gift Ideas
Four Years Back - Cake Decorating Basics - II
Adapted from - Bon Appetit magazine
This gives 3 dozen biscottis that are 5" long.
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 3 1/4 cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Oil - 2/3 cup
Eggs - 3 large
Baking powder - 1 TBSP
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Almond extract - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Almonds - 1 cup lightly toasted and chopped.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder. In another bowl, beat eggs with sugar till thick (about 2 minutes). Add oil and beat few more times. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Dump the dry ingredients to wet and mix well. This is a sticky dough. Stir in chopped almonds. Divide the dough into two parts and shape each half into a log of 15" X 3". It should be about 1/2" thick. You can wet your hands and shake off excess water to help shape it. Leave at least 3" between the logs. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F. When the logs are cooled, transfer them on to the cutting board and slice them 1/2" - 3/4" wide slices. Transfer them back on to the baking sheet placing them on their back and bake for 20 minutes.  Rotate the pan in between. Cool completely and store in an air tight container for 2 weeks.

Enjoy.

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Anise Biscotti

No, I am not running a theme of biscotti posts on the blog. Biscotti has longer shelf life and is low in fat and sugar compared to other types of cookies. That was the reason for making these. I tried to mimic the flavor of anise cookies or 'om biscuit'  as we call in Kannada that we used to get in Indian Iyengar bakeries. I understand that one is made of yeast, but this was a quick version giving the same taste.

One Year Back - Healthiest Pie Crust
Two Years Back - Yam Zucchini Curry
Adapted from Taste of Home Church Supper Desserts book - Makes 3 dozen
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Eggs - 2 large
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Anise seeds - 1 tsp crushed coarsely

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and crushed anise seeds. In another bowl, beat eggs with sugar till thick (about 2 minutes). Add oil and beat few more times. Dump the dry ingredients to wet and mix well. This is a sticky dough. Divide the dough into two parts and shape each half into a log of 12" X 2". It should be about 1/2" thick. You can wet your hands and shake off excess water to help shape it. Leave at least 3" between the logs. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F. When the logs are cooled, transfer them on to the cutting board and slice them 1/2" - 3/4" wide slices. Transfer them back on to the baking sheet placing them on their back and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely and store in an air tight container for 2 weeks.

Enjoy.

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Brownie Biscotti

If you ask me which is the best cookie I like to bake, I would say bar cookies and biscotti. Reason being the ease of making. These are relatively easier since there is no dropping the dough in small amounts and baking for short period of time and turning the trays around and all. Another reason I like to bake biscotti is the use of oil. Most of the biscottti either call for oil or melted butter. Here is one of the varieties I baked today.

One Year Back - Poppy seed drink / Gasagase Payasa
Two Years Back - Craisins and White chocolate chip biscotti
Adapted slightly from Taste of Home Church Supper Desserts
Ingredients: (Makes 3 dozen biscotti)
Canola oil - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 3 large
Sugar - 1 1/3 cups
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Baking Cocoa - 3/4 cup (I used dutch processed)
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Miniature semi sweet chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda. Set aside. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and vanilla extract till they are thick and mixed well. Dump the dry ingredients and using a spatula, mix them. Dough will be very crumbly. You will wonder if you can even shape it into a log. Don't worry. Add the chocolate chips and mix. Divide the crumbly dough into two parts. Shape each part into 12" by 3" log. When you press the dough with your hand, it will hold its shape. Make sure the logs are not thicker than 1/2" and there is at least 3" space between the logs.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until set and you can see few cracks on the top. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Transfer the logs on to the cutting board and slice them 1/2" wide. You can go diagonally if you like longer biscotti. I like mine short so I slice them straight. Place the sliced cookies back on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. You can bake them on the cut side and flip them after 10 minutes so each side gets toasted nicely or place them on the back (however they were on the baking sheet when baked for the first time) but with spaces and bake for 20 minutes straight. Cool completely on the cooling rack and store in an air tight container for up to two weeks.

Enjoy.

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Cardamom Biscotti

If you ask me which kind of cookies are my favorite, I would answer you 'Biscotti' without even thinking for a moment. For couple of reasons. You could dunk them in hot beverage or eat as is. They are the most healthy cookies if you consider low-fat goodies as healthy. They don't need lot of butter like most of the cookies do. Baking is a breeze since you bake them as a log and slice and bake again. Aren't these reasons enough to love a Biscotti? If you still think you like classic cookies like Snickerdoodles or Peanut butter cookies, do visit again to enjoy them virtually.

Today being the second day of Bake-A-Thon, I am sharing this biscotti recipe with you all. Joining me in this adventure are:
Susan of The WellSeasoned Cook,
Preethi of IsingCakes,
Veena Krishna Kumar of VeenasVegnation,
Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.

One year back - Holiday Gift Ideas
Two years back - Cake Decorating Basics - II
Based on Anise Biscotti recipe from the book 'Good Housekeeping Baking'
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Canola Oil - 4 TBSP (1/4 cup)
Eggs - 3 large
Cardamom - 6 - 7 pods powdered (scant 1 tsp powder)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom powder. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and sugar very well. Add the liquid to dry ingredients and continue to beat. This is a very wet dough. Divide the dough into two portions and shape each half into a log of approximately 10 " X 3". You can wet your hands or a spatula to shape. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and slice them either diagonally or straight into 3/4" thick slices. Most of the biscotti recipes tell you to let them cool down before slicing, but this recipe instructed to slice immediately. I did follow it to see how this would work differently. I would stick to the method of waiting till they cool down a bit before slicing. Even when it doesn't affect the taste, these biscotti had uneven crumb texture due to slicing when still hot. Bake them cut side down for 5 minutes and then flip and bake for 5 more minutes. I baked them on the back (not on the cut side) for 10 minutes. You could under bake it if you are planning to dunk it in coffee or tea.

Cool completely on the rack. They get hard as they cool. If you feel they are not hard enough, you can always return them to the oven to crisp up for couple more minutes.

Enjoy.

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