Picture this... You get up in the morning, Christmas tree is lit, fireplace is on, coffee is poured, and you are sitting on your couch dipping a fresh biscotti in your hot coffee. You dip, taste, and feel the biscotti melt in your mouth delivering the subtle sweetness of the biscuit and aroma of the coffee all in one bite; eyes close in delight as you savour this special treat. This is how my hubby and I like to start our mornings before the kids get up. Wouldn’t you like to start your morning like that, too? You can! Follow the recipes below!
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup dried cranberries
300g white chocolate wafers
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together flour and baking powder and set aside. In a mixer, beat the sugar, butter and salt. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the cranberries.
Form the dough into a 12-inch long, 3-inch wide log on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.
Place the log on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti on their side on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti again, for 10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Then flip to the other side and bake again for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
Melt the white chocolate wafers in a double boiler. Drizzle the white chocolate On the tops of the biscotti and let set. Serve with a hot cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup eggnog
2 tsp rum or 1 tsp rum extract or vanilla extract if you prefer
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp rum or 1/2 tsp rum extract or vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp eggnog
water to smooth
Instructions:
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, and eggs with a mixer for about 1 minute or until well blended. Mix in eggnog and rum or rum extract, just until blended.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Working in small batches, mix the flour mixture into butter mixture until all of the flour mixture has been added to the butter mixture and is well blended.
On a floured cutting board, divide dough in half. Shape each dough half into a long roll, approximately 14″ long. Carefully place rolls on prepared baking sheet, about 3″ apart from each other. With your hand, press down each roll so that they are approximately 1/2″ high.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully remove from pans and place on cooling racks. Set aside baking sheet, as it will be reused. When biscotti has cooled enough to handle, but is still warm, carefully move them to a cutting board and cut crosswise slices (approximately 1/2″ in size).
Place slices, cut side down, back on original baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn slices over and return to oven to bake for another 10 minutes or until somewhat firm and lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to completely cool, with tops upwards.
To drizzle with glaze: with biscotti pieces no more than 1″ apart from each other on either the wire rack or your baking sheet, tip tines of a fork into the glaze, allowing some of the excess to drip off. In a back and forth sweeping motion, about 6″ above biscotti, allow the glaze to fall in lines on top of the biscotti. Continue until glazed as desired or until all glaze has been used.
Glaze:
In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, rum or rum extract and 2 tablespoons eggnog. If needed, add more eggnog to achieve desired consistency (I use 3 tablespoons total of eggnog).
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