O Kitchen Aid, Kitchen Aid, wherefore art thou Kitchen Aid – mixer?  Shiny and red and steadfast mixer…  After three mixer-less batches of biscotti, my arms are now made of steel.  And the remainder of me:  flour, sugar, egg, and nuts…  My days of beating, stirring, kneading, battling by hand are now over.  I’m passing the torch to you, reader. 

 

But before I say adieu,  here is the last and best of the biscotti recipes.  The traditional and original recipe from which all my previous variations were born.  I was raised on this anise scented cookie and, as my affection has grown with each passing year, look more and more forward to a batch (or two) each passing birthday or Christmas.  Of course now that I finally know how exactly to make them, I have no excuse to not have biscotti around at all times.  There’s just something to be said for the ones made by Nonna herself, a special Grandmotherly touch if you will.  While I know hers will always be the best to me, I hope that yours will be just as perfect.  If not, select all, copy, paste, and send to Grandma!

 

Nonna’s Traditional Anise Biscotti

• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ c sugar
• 2 tsp anise seed, ground
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tsp anise extract
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 4 cups flour
• 1 c walnuts or almonds, chopped

 

Beat eggs thoroughly for about 5 minutes, add sugar, and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Mix in extracts and half of the melted butter.  Blend in the baking powder, ground anise seed, and enough of the flour to make a soft dough, then add the nuts.  Add in the remainder of the flour until combined.  Stir in remaining butter and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm. 

 

 Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into a log (see below) and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. 

 

 Take out, let cool for 5 minutes, and slice thin (3/4 inch) diagonal slices using a serrated knife.  Return to oven and brown bottom for 6 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6 minutes.  Let cool for at least an hour before storing.

For a chocolate coating, melt about 2 cups of chocolate in a double boiler, dip biscotti, and let cool on wax paper.

While it turns out that Baci is just as much a nickname for chocolate hazelnut as Nutella, I’m sure they’d be happy to know that, in my mind at least, they’re the Kleenex of chocolate hazelnut candy!  Baci, which means kiss in Italian, is the much more delicious Nestle version of our Hershey Kisses.  Not only  is their taste superior to our plain Jane chocolates, but they come with little multilingual love notes inside the wrapper! 

 

I’ll never forget my trip to the chocolate festival in Perugia, the home of the Perugina factory where these little pecks of heaven are crafted.  There was chocolate everywhere!  Hot chocolate as thick as honey, decadent chocolate desserts, and even a chocolate sculpture contest where artists chipped away at life size blocks of cocoa while people crowded at their feet to catch the scraps*.  How they maintained focus I will never know!  It was a trip to remember, even 6 years later.  And so here’s a little chip of Perugia just for you! 

 

Dillo con un Bacio! 

 

*Scraps?!  Excuse my blasphemy. 

 

Browned Butter Baci Biscotti

 

• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ c sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp hazelnut extract (0pt)
• 1 stick butter, browned
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 4 cups flour
• ½ c chocolate chunks
• 1 c hazelnuts, chopped

 

In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat and cook until browned.  It should smell nutty! 

 

Beat eggs thoroughly for about 5 minutes, add sugar, and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Mix in extracts and half of the browned butter.  Blend in the baking powder and enough of the flour to make a soft dough, then add the nuts and chocolate.  Add in the remainder of the flour until combined.  Stir in remaining butter and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm. 

 

Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into a log (see below) and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. 

 

Take out, let cool for 5 minutes, and slice thin (3/4 inch) diagonal slices using a serrated knife.  Return to oven and brown bottom for 6 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6 minutes.  Let cool for at least an hour before storing. 

 

Biscotti get a tough wrap for being a tad on the crunchy side, but I’d like to take this opportunity to commit their poor reputation to user error.  It’s a dipping cookie people!  So whether you prefer coffee, tea, or milk – stop complaining and dunk it!  This recipe for Toffee Crunch Biscotti goes particularly well with Starbuck’s new Caramel Brulee Latte or they’re slightly more grown up Toffee Nut Latte.  I have never been able to do the black coffee thing and, as such, enjoy experimenting with new coffee creations.  The latest and greatest is the simple substitution of about ½ cup of eggnog instead of the usual cream and sugar.  For a Thai coffee, swap that eggnog for some sweetened condensed milk.  And, if you’re really feeling sweet, heat a tablespoon of cocoa powder or hot chocolate mix with milk or cream for a quick mocha.  There are about as many options as there are biscotti, so get dipping! 

 

 

  

  

Toffee Crunch Biscotti

• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ c sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tsp almond extract
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 4 cups flour
• ½ c toffee pieces
• ¼ c pecans, chopped
• ¼ c almonds, chopped

 

Beat eggs thoroughly for about 5 minutes, add sugar, and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Mix in extracts and half of the melted butter.  Blend in the baking powder and enough of the flour to make a soft dough, then add the nuts and toffee.  Add in the remainder of the flour until combined.  Stir in remaining butter and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm. 

 

Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into a log (see below) and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. 

 

 Take out, let cool for 5 minutes, and slice thin (3/4 inch) diagonal slices using a serrated knife.  Return to oven and brown bottom for 6 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6 minutes.  Let cool for at least an hour before storing.

Despite the fact that the Baking Bonanza has been in progress a couple weeks now, I actually just started my holiday baking last weekend.  This year I decided to go with the 3 Bs of Baking:  Breads, Barks, & Biscotti!  I’m using said theme to strap some boundaries around what usually turns into a big cookie catastrophe, for my kitchen anyway.  Hopefully keeping within these three categories will enable me to tie a pretty little bow around my baked gifts while still allowing some creativity.

 

We will start with biscotti aka cantucci.  For the sake of this holiday season and my Nonna from whom the base recipe comes we will call them biscotti.  The biscotti series is going to come to you in four installments, one variation per installment, and will conclude with the orginal (and best) recipe from which all the other recipes were created.  I know my mother is asking why mess with a good thing?  Well, Mommy dearest, I can only post the real deal one time and there are over 360 days in the year.  That, and you know me well enough to know I’m a meddler. 

 

What I was surprised to learn was that after many not so perfect attempts at meddling with various biscotti recipes, these actually turned out just right!  They don’t have the traditional essence of anise that make the original recipe so unique, but if you prefer or like these flavor combinations or just want to spice things up a bit these are all quite delicious!  There is a METHOD to the madness and I was happy to learn that if you keep to the basic ratios and processes defined in the original recipe, the world is your oyster! 

 

Dark Chocolate Christmas Biscotti

• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ c sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp orange extract
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 3 ½ cups flour
• ½ c dark cocoa powder
• ½ c dried cranberries
• ½ c pistachios, chopped

 

Beat eggs thoroughly for about 5 minutes, add sugar, and beat for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Mix in extracts and half of the melted butter.  Blend in the baking powder and enough of the flour to make a soft dough, then add the nuts and cranberries.  Add in the remainder of the flour and cocoa until combined.  Stir in remaining butter and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm. 

 

Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into a log (see below) and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. 

 

 

Take out, let cool for 5 minutes, and slice thin (3/4 inch) diagonal slices using a serrated knife.  Return to oven and brown bottom for 6 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6 minutes.  Let cool for at least an hour before storing.  And dip baby dip!

 

Valentine’s Day always comes with a list of requirements that vary drastically depending on the sex with whom you are conversing.  My requirements, post the days of heartshape meatloaf with the rents, include the sporting of my favorite black and red heart blouse and copious amounts of cheese and chocolate, emphasis on the latter.  My girlfriends and I have spent many a Valentine’s Day experimenting with new items to cover and smother with cheese and chocolate, but I definitely think we got it right Senior year of college when we stopped messing around and went straight for the Krispy Kremes, from the original location in Winston of course. 

 

  

Last year I actually had a Valentine, so what better gift to give to both him and my office of almost eighty women than chocolate chip biscotti.  Luckily, I had a recipe saved in my Blackberry “To Do” list which had been verbally relayed in ounces and grams from the pretty little owner of the Italian restaurant in my condo building.

 

My roomate and I had ventured down to the late Allegro for a building happy hour, hoping to actually meet meet one of our neighbors.  We sipped our complimentary champagne and nibbled on the perfectly al dente truffled risotto brought to us by a waitor who probably felt sorry for the loner ladies in the corner.  As the mostly married with children couples fled home we were able to get seats at the bar, the key to my fated encounter with a little Italian biscotti called cantucci.  When they brought out the tray of crunchy cantucci with perfect ribbons of chocolate rippling through their centers my jaw dropped.  I MUST get this recipe. 

 

I zeroed in on the bartender to help determine at whom I should direct my begging.  To my surprise he, a seasoned waitor and Irish looking lad, had made the biscotti all himself, although the recipe came from the owner.  He ushered her over to meet me and noting her shy and confused state I made haste to explain both my love of the hard Italian cookies and the perfection that was hers.  She struggled to decrease the quantities in her head, since like every other Italian I know she does not follow a recipe, but she was also used to making mass quantities for the restaurant.  Eventually we figured it out and she sent us on our merry way with one last beautifully accented piece of advice to cut immediately from the oven to avoid a crumbly mess.  Of course we also managed to get a doggy bag of both the chocolate and more traditional almond cookies, which I fear may have been the last I’ll ever have of that quality.

 

The recreation of her biscotti, which as I mentioned earlier are actually cantucci, was a learning experience all its own.  Note that biscotti is the Italian word for cookie, while cantucci is the particular variety of of that cookie that us Americans associate with biscotti.  That was lesson one.  Lesson two was a lesson in conversion.  Not caring to conduct the proper research on my first attempt, I did the conversions in my head, presuming that 8 oz was equal to a cup and so on and so forth.  The problem with this method of reasoning is that ounces are a measure of weight whereas cups are a measurement of volume.  Funny because once upon a time I was actually good at math & science…  That said, the batter turned out just fine and wasa ctually a better consistency than my second batch which I was required to make after burning batch one.  This brings me to lesson three which is not to abondon your baking for your favorite TV show. 

 

In conclusion I have for you the recipe and baking instructions for batch two.  While they are very good, they’re just not the same, and I’m sad to know that I will not be able to venture downstairs for further instruction since the restaurant has been replaced with Allegro. 

 

 Chocolate Chunk Cantucci

• 10.5 ounces sugar (1.5 cups)
• 10.5 ounces flour (2 cups)
• 8 grams baking powder (2 t)
• 7.5 ounces chocolate (1 cup)
• 10.5 ounces almonds
• 3 eggs

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

Beat eggs and incorporate into flour, sugar, and baking powder.  Stir in chocolate and almonds. 

 

Knead dough on a floured surface, divide in half, and form into two 12 inch long logs on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

 

Slice on a diagonal and allow to cool for 30 minutes.  Return to oven and bake on each side for 10 minutes until golden.

 

NOTE:  For delivery, and these make great presents since they have such a long shelf-life, I recommend packaging in tissue paper in one of the pretty little “to go” boxes reminiscent of Chinese take-out containers from the Container Store.  While I went with red and patterned heart tissue, they come out with specialty boxes for just about every occasion.

Lately I have been unimpressed in my search for fun and inventive appetizers.  I can remember a time a few Christmases past when every appetizer I found was a “must have”, not up for negotiation.  I spent parties slaving away in the kitchen, always to realize that my eyes are bigger than my and everyone else’s stomachs – not to mention my schedule.  The result was less than perfection as my capacity to give every bite-size nibble its due attention was limited.  Thus, in my recent forays I’ve returned to old favorites and am enjoying the extra time mingling, serving, and perhaps even enjoying an extra glass of wine (or two) with my guests.  The following and my next post are two make-ahead miracles for your next soiree!   

 

 

I got this recipe from my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, and adapted it to what was on-hand with just a touch of influence from those darned New Year’s resolutions… yeah right.

Parmesan  Peppercorn Biscotti

 

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Adaptation of Gourmet Magazine’s Dec 2006 recipe)

 

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
4 cups whole wheat flour plus additional for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated (2 1/4 cups)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup low fat milk

 

Begin by combining the flour (I subbed whole wheat since my roommate hid our white in an “air tight” grocery bag in case the mysterious moths gave up on our cashmere and ventured into the pantry), grated Parmesan cheese, baking powder, freshly ground S&P (the recipe called for whole peppercorns ground via grinder; alas my pretty red Kitchen Aid grinder, which I admit I bought more for looks than function, is now for looks only…).  Next, cut in the cold cubed butter using your hands (my favorite part) or a pastry blender (which I consider to be a cop-out) until it’s combined in crumbly little bits.  Beat together the eggs & milk (it called for whole milk, but again I used low fat since I had it on hand) and mix it into the flour and butter mixture.

Once everything is combined, knead the dough into a ball and relocate to a floured surface to form log(s).  This is where I always go astray…  I am a biscotti fiend!  My favorites, of course, are the perfectly shaped & anise flavored variety made and sent to me every birthday by my Nonna.  Honestly I have yet to even attempt the traditional Italian cookie that is the origin of my love affair.  Fear of failure?  Probably yes, but I will not deflect my faults with excuses.  I have ventured into the land of flavored biscotti numerous times and still have yet to match the shape and texture of Nonna’s.  Alas, I failed again.  While I’ve learned that it’s crucial to form the dough into a solid ball to be transformed into said log, I have yet to overcome my hasty, greedy nature and construct the extra log which would inevitably result in the smaller & neater biscotti I so desire.

Moral of the story, make 2 logs about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch tall.  Transfer the logs to a baking sheet, round edges with remaining egg and sprinkle with leftover cheese and black pepper as desired.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, remove, and let cool for 10 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 300F, cut logs diagonally into 1/2 inch thick cookies, and return to oven for 30-45 minutes turning once in the middle.  Let cool and enjoy with wine, soup, or as an afternoon snack!