TWD: Chocolate Biscotti

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie Selection is Chocolate Biscotti. There are a lot of things I bake that I can merely sample a bite or two of and be happy to have others consume the rest. Biscotti is not one of them - I love it! I found this biscotti particularly delicious (though, I admit, I probably say that about most biscotti). The espresso powder and salt really bring out the chocolate flavor; the chunks of chocolate and almonds are also delightful. A lot of biscotti tends to be a bit dry; this one manages to have a nice crunch without being dry. Last week I mentioned that there are certain things I enjoy baking on weeknights, and I would consider biscotti more of a weekend bake. It’s not at all difficult to make, but since it bakes twice and has a rest between them, it’s nice to do when you aren’t in a hurry.



I rated this recipe rated a 9 for Deliciousness (the chewy cookie-loving husband was less enthusiastic) and gave it a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 3. A big thank you to Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes for giving me a chance to indulge in one of my favorite treats. You can find the recipe here on her site and visit the TWD site for more crunchy cookies.

SMS: Sour Cherry Almond (Pistachio) Biscotti

This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays selection is Sour Cherry Almond Biscotti. It has been well-documented on this blog that Josh consumes the majority of the treats I make, but I am actually the bigger cookie monster when it comes to biscotti - I love it. I’ve made a few different biscotti recipes and the one issue they all seem to have in common is that the dough is sticky to work with. This recipe called for chilling the dough for at least an hour before baking, which helped, but I still had to use a generous amount of flour when shaping the dough into logs before baking. I had a surplus of pistachios leftover from when the Sweet Melissa group made the Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints last month, so I subbed them for the almonds in the recipe (still used the almond extract, though), since pistachios tend to be more difficult to find uses for.



The cookies are nice and crunchy and I love the addition of dried cherries, so yummy. Josh tried one tonight and assured me that he will snack on them this week. (I just better not make any competing snacky treats for a few days. I’ve learned my lesson not to do that when it’s something he isn’t super-crazy about.) A nice lady from our HOA saw Josh and Eloise out for a walk and informed Josh that there is another family with a Weimaraner who recently moved into our neighborhood, so we are going to welcome them with some biscotti.



This recipe received an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66. Many thanks to Tracey of Made by Tray-Tray for a great selection. You can find the recipe here on Tracey’s site and visit the Sweet Melissa site to see what the rest of the group thought of this selection.

Chocolate Biscotti

I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes when I get home from work on Wednesdays, Mr. Penpen has the Dining section of the New York Times set out for me if he thinks there is a recipe or article I might enjoy. Last week there was an articled entitled “Treats in the Doggie Bag, for the Dog, of Course,” in which the author envisions Michelle Obama’s doggie bag containing cookies for her daughters, and then, through a somewhat confusing leap of logic, ends up providing a recipe for chocolate biscotti.



I had never tried making biscotti until a couple months ago and I’ve really taken a shine to it. I think I’m partially just enthralled that you can make such tasty cookies using so little butter: this recipe contains just four tablespoons of butter and yields dozens of cookies. It was my first go with chocolate biscotti, and this recipe has a pleasant deep cocoa taste. They were also nice and crunchy rather than hard and dry, so a cup of coffee or tea is not an absolutely essential accompaniment. You can find the article and recipe for the cookie here on the New York Times website. The only deviation I made from the original recipe was the cup of milk chocolate chips. I don’t care for milk chocolate, so I used a combination of semi-sweet chips and chopped almonds. Next time I think I will use hazelnuts, though.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Honey Beescotti

I’m pleased to say that I have joined another baking group, called Sweet Melissa Sundays. We’re baking our way through The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy, the owner of the Sweet Melissa Patisserie(s) in Brooklyn. A few months ago I may have thought it was insane to join a second baking group, but I have such a great time trying out recipes I never would select myself, I decided it was an excellent idea. And if I’m crazy, I’m in good company. The first recipe chosen was Honey Beescotti, which I was delighted about for two reasons: 1) I love biscotti, which I recently found out is easy and fun to make. 2) It’s “bee” season in my line of work, so the name of these cookies made me laugh – gotta love silly puns. Last year one of my co-workers made us all bee antennae. Eloise (better known around here as Ms. Ears) looks much cuter than I do in them, so she is modeling them below. I had to wave a treat in front of her nose, so she would forget there was something on her head, in order to get a picture. So much for dressing her up as a bunny next week.





The first step involved for these wonderful cookies was making candied orange peel. I’ve seen candied orange peel at Whole Foods, but I thought it would be more satisfying (and economical) to make it myself, and that turned out to be true.



I found this recipe fairly easy to put together and very delicious. I adore regular almond biscotti, but the caraway seeds and candied orange really make the cookie burst with flavor. I’m not sure the cookies came out quite the right size. When I read the Problems and Questions on the Sweet Melissa site, most people said their biscotti spread. Mine came out quite small. The size reminded me of the ones served in Italy with the dessert wine, Vin Santo. I happen to have a bottle (hopefully still good) of it in my wine rack, so this gives me the perfect excuse to open it.





This recipe gets an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.66. A huge thank you to Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets for organizing this new group and choosing such a fantastic first recipe. You can find the recipe on Lorelei’s site, and be sure to check out the Sweet Melissa Sundays site as well. I’m looking forward baking along with this great new group!

TWD: Custard Cups

The recipe chosen for this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie baking adventure was Lemon Custard Cups. I was pleased to have a break from chocolate-based desserts and thought this sounded like a delightful treat to make on a sunny Saturday, especially since I received lemons in my most recent CSA delivery. But there was something I was even more eager to make this weekend: biscotti. I had an empty cookie jar and a free afternoon, so I decided to make the delicious-sounding Lenox Almond Biscotti from Baking, which had been selected before I was a member of TWD. I opted to make my custard cups with espresso and cinnamon, which was one of the “playing around” versions of this recipe, since I thought it would pair nicely with biscotti.

I had never made custard before, except as a base for ice cream, and found it fairly simple to put together. I may have gotten too confident, though, because I think my custard cups were a little overdone. The texture was fine, but they were not “jiggly” as the recipe advised they would be. Overall, I enjoyed making these and love the infinite possibilities for flavor combinations.

I gave this recipe a 7 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.33. Many thanks to Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles for starting off the (almost) spring weather with a nice, light dessert. You can find the recipe on Bridget’ site, and check out other versions of the custard via the TWD site.