Irresistable Biscotti

Okay, here we go. Break out your apron and get your cookie mojo on. I am sharing my favourite cookie recipe, Awesome Biscotti. Even if you do not like the dry and not really flavourful ordinary biscotti, you are going to love these. Just remember to have the coffee or tea ready as soon as they are cool enough to eat.

What you will put together to make this delightfulness:
2 Tbsp butter (soft)
¾ C sugar
2 eggs
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 C of addins: nuts (chopped or broken but not too small), dried fruit (cut up if large), chocolate chips of any sort

     

Dried cherries and chocolate chips       Broken pecans and dried blueberries

Got them all together? Here is how to make these ingredients into heaven on a plate.

Start by greasing a cookie sheet or lining it with parchment paper and getting your oven heating to 350F before your hands get mucky. If your cookie sheet has high sides you might want to bake the dough on the back for easy removal as you will need to slide the whole piece of dough off to cool later.

Beat the butter and cream in the sugar. Beat in the eggs and add the vanilla and milk, stirring to mix well. Mix the flour and baking powder and add them to the wet ingredients with a few strokes. Toss in the addins and mix gently to combine it all. You may need to use your hands after stirring to complete the mixing. Do not over handle the dough so that it stays nice and tender.

Press the dough into a rough ball and place it on the cookie sheet. Use your hands (and a little flour if the dough is sticky) to form a flat long loaf in the centre of the cookie sheet. If you decide to make two different kinds as I did, you can use two sheets or crowd them onto one (I hate dishes).

Pop the cookie sheet with the dough loaf into the oven and bake it for about 20 minutes until it is slightly puffed and cracked, lightly browned and firm. Remove it from the oven and set the sheet on a rack to cool. Wait 10 minutes and slide it off the sheet and onto the rack. Do this gently so that the loaf does not break. If you are using a sheet with high sides, as I said before, you may want to bake the loaf on the back of the sheet for easy removal.

Wait 10 minutes and slide the cooked loaf of dough onto the rack to cool a little more. Keep the cookie sheet handy as these have to go back into the oven to cook again. After another 10 minutes use a sharp serrated knife and cut the loaf crosswise into ¾ to 1 inch slices. Turn the oven back on to 325F.

Place each slice cut side up on the cookie sheet. If an occasional one breaks, push it back together the rebake. Bake the cookie slices for 15 minutes, remove them from the oven, turn each one over to expose the bottom cut edge and bake again for 15 minutes. The cookies should be dry on the surface and firm. Remove them from the oven and off the sheet after 10 minutes to cool them completely on a rack.

Is the coffee or tea ready? Have a great week and don’t blame me for the weight gain.