No More Books. Baking Instead!

I finished reading "Something Blue" this morning. No more reading for a while. I've got other things to do. :) It surprisingly snowed quite a bit today so I just wanted to hunker down. So I read and then made several batches of biscotti. One of the guards at work had asked me to make him some (and paid me, even though I tried to refuse), and I finally got around to it. I also thought I'd make some for my mom, who is pretty much homebound after having her hip replaced last Monday. I was planning to head out to visit her today but the roads seem crappy enough that it's not a good idea. So I'll go out tomorrow after work instead.

Several people have asked me for my biscotti recipe, so I'm going to post it on here. I'm not a huge fan of ginger, but these are pretty tasty. I get quite a few compliments on them, so I have to recommend them. The recipe is from Cooking Light.

Gingered White-Chocolate Biscotti

Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (4-ounce) bar premium white chocolate, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the vanilla and next 2 ingredients, and add to the flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 7 or 8 times. Shape dough into a 16-inch-long roll. Place roll on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and flatten roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove roll from baking sheet to a wire rack, and let cool 10 minutes.

Cut roll diagonally into 24 (1/2-inch) slices, and place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325°, and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the cookies over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Now I'm going to be like my Grammy Lucy and go into all of the things that I've learned from making this a gazillion times.

-This is better if you use bar white chocolate (I use Lindt which is sometimes on sale at World Market. I've got to find a cheaper source online). If you must use white chocolate chips (which I did today), chop them up a bit first. The chips are too big and will make big holes or burn after you slice the biscotti.

-I always add more white chocolate and ginger than what they say. I add "very heaping" in front of those two measurements. :) I heap the vanilla a bit too.

-I mix everything in my Kitchenaid. You don't have to do much kneading if you do that, which I like. It can be a pretty sticky dough so it gets stuck to your counter or Roll-pat. Don't be afraid to use flour though - it doesn't hurt the consistency.

-I actually never do the diagonal cutting because I want to get as many same-sized biscotti out of the recipe. I'm sure this looks less authentic. :)

-If you're like me and don't have a fancy stove, use an over thermometer. I burned the first several batches I made in this apartment because I later realized my oven is almost 50 degrees too hot. Gross.

-I get my ginger at Williams-Sonoma. I've used both the Ginger People ginger chips and the WS brand slices. Both are less than $10 and have tons, if you're making more than a batch. I once bought a little bottle in the spice section at the grocery store and it was so much more expensive than buying these. I mince both of them, even though the ginger chips might be small enough to use as is.

-I read somewhere that you can stand the biscotti on their flat bottoms and cook them that way so you don't have to flip them midway through, but I've never tried it. I'm too afraid the bottoms would burn too much.

Happy baking!