Hazelnut Biscotti

Each Holiday season comes around and I have to make biscotti's! They are great to bring to work, or to a friends house for coffee or tea. They are especially nice because they are a nice option that isn't super sugary sweet, with all of the cookies and bars out and about that wonderful time of the year. Katie Lee Joel once described that biscotti's are named so because they are twice cooked (bi- meaning two.) She stood them up and baked them once after slicing to eliminate the extra cook time. That way the hot air in the oven could circulate to both sides. She gave rosemary biscotti's out as wedding favors when she married rockstar Billy Joel. Rosemary has many historic symbolic ties to weddings, among them is the belief that the herb represents fidelity and remembrance (and other as seen here.) However, in the summer of 2009, Katie and Billy split.

Hazlenut Biscotti's (adapted from Tyler Florence, Food Network)

1 1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

*semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the hazelnuts out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the the nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from oven.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, gradually add eggs, sugar, and almond extract; mix until creamed. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dough until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the nuts until evenly distributed.

Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll each half into a log, each 12 inches long by about 1 inch tall. Place the logs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let the logs cool for five minutes, and then move them to a cutting board. Slice each log on a diagonal into 12-14 one inch thick pieces. Put the biscottis back onto the baking sheet and bake five minutes, remove from oven and flip, baking the the other side up for five minutes as well. Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

For an added treat, melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips over a double boiler and dip the bottom half of each biscotti in the chocolate and let dry until hard on the parchment paper.

***Note: the flavors in this biscotti are interchangeable. If you choose to you can use a different nut, or none at all. You can use dried fruit, or seasonings and spices. Whatever you want to add is up to you :)

"Sandies"

I think the original, or correct name for these cookies are "Russian Tea Cookies." However, growing up my brother and I have known these as sandies. I've altered these a little from growing up, but now my husband Brian loves these! For a final touch, I have a sugar glitter that I sprinkle on afterwards for a pretty little snow ball effect (sugar glitter found at Michaels Craft Store)

"Sandies"

3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup confectioner sugar

2 Tablespoons almond extract

1/4 cup water

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together shortening, butter, and confectioner's sugar. Once complete add extracts, flour, water, and walnuts. Stir to combine.

Roll into 1 inch balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned. Quickly and carefully move to a cooling rack with parchment or wax paper underneath for easy cleanup. Either gently roll the cookie in a bowl of confectioner's sugar while the cookie is slightly warm. Or using a sifter, dust the tops of the cookie generously with the confectioners sugar.

Cool on the racks. For a nice touch use the sugar glitter for a pretty effect.

Chewy Ginger Cookie Experiment

I visited the Midtown Global Market here in Minneapolis for the first time last week and fell in absolutely head over heels love with their Ginger Spice Cookies-oh word were they tasty. Everything right and perfect about the holidays were wrapped up in this little cookie. The name of the bakery is Salty Tart and you can check them out here.

So I was in search of a recipe to replicate the prized cookie, and stumbled upon this one. The photos made it look like the ones in the cookbooks, so I thought to give it a try. The tricky thing about baking is that everything has to be absolutely perfect, the right temperature, the exact amount of this and that, it's a rather unforgiving science. Cooking on the other hand is usually salvageable if need be. Once cookies are done though, you can't go back and undo something.

I found out that the texture of a cookie can vary greatly if you change what type of flour is used and what types of fat is used also (e.g. butter vs. shortening.) I'll show you the photos of what happened to me. My first attempt at this recipe produced a flat, but still chewy cookie (and that could have been my pan, or the temperature I used, or something else funky, the original looked beautiful.)


The second attempt I altered a few things and used a cake flour instead of all purpose flour. There are less proteins in cake flour, so the cookie would be free to rise more quickly before the before the fats melt and 'set' the cookie. Having mentioned that, I also elected to use shortening instead of butter. Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, so as mentioned, the cookie can rise for longer before it sets.

One other change I might try for next time is instead of using one cup of granulated sugar is switching to 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar, I hope I remember! If you try let me know how it goes.

All of this and more can be found here Cookie Basics 101 from Alton Brown, the good stuff starts at about scene 5.

Ginger Cookies (Originally from Taste of Home adapted from Cathy)

3/4 cup shortening (regular or butter flavored)
1 cup plus two tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups cake flour
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and one cup of granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, molasses and vanilla. Mix well. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl, gradually add to creamed ingredients and mix well.

Roll into 1" balls, and toss in remaining sugar, and place at least 2" from each other on a parchment lined baking sheet. Do not overcrowd the sheet. On a standard size baking sheet, bake no more than 8 at a time. For even size, use a small cookie scoop.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned. The cookies might not look all the way done, if you leave them in the oven until they 'look' done, they will actually be overcooked, and that is no bueno. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet until it can easily be transferred to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container

Peppermint Meltaways

I was up for trying a new holiday cookie to add to the cast of usuals, and these turned out perfectly. I first came upon this recipe flipping through a taste of home holiday cookie edition and there were so many fun ones to pick from, but I'm glad to have made these.

These had the perfect touch of mint without being too sweet or sugary. The frosting I made left white, but I used a few drops of red coloring and used a toothpick to swirl the color through the icing, and that kind of mimicked a candy cane effect. I don't have a piping bag for the frosting so I used a ziplock bag with a star tip.

Peppermint Meltaways (from Taste of Home)

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup corn starch

Frosting

3 Tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp peppermint extract

2 to 3 drops red food coloring (optional)

1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies (best done in a food processor or blender)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioner sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the extract. Combine flour and cornstarch in a separate bowl. Gradually add to the creamed mixture until fully combined.

Shape into one inch balls, Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are very lightly browned. Remove to wire rack to cool.

In a small bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar, milk, and extract.

Once fully incorporated and mixture is smooth, add a few drops of the red food coloring if using. Spread the frosting over the tops of the cookies, a piping bag will make for a pretty effect if available. Sprinkle a little of the crushed candies over the top.

Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Fudge

I didn't know before this year that Fudge is actually considered a candy. I guess I don't know what I thought it was, I knew what it was of course. It's not a cookie, or a bar, but actually it's candy. Many friends of mine request fudge each year, the recipe I use isn't special or unique I don't think, but it always turns out lovely.

For favors at our wedding we chose to give out homemade fudge. Some give out cute little trinkets, or colored candies, or photos or cd's, we gave out fudge. In fact we made so much of it I had to take a few years off from making it, I was all fudged out! I'm glad I was able to finally return, because the 'chocolatey-ness' of them is calling my name!

To read more about fudge, check out Alton Brown

Fudge (from Toll House)

1.5 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 oz) evaporated milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1.5 cups semi sweet chocolate morsels (I used Guittard)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Line a 8"x8" square baking pan with foil

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in a medium heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 4 to 5 minutes, remove from heat.

Stir in marshmallows, chocolate morsels, vanilla, and nuts if using. Stir vigorously for one minute. Pour into prepared baking dish and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan, remove foil, and cut into bite sized pieces.

Homemade Gumdrops

This holiday season I have taken on more candy making than usual, maybe I find it more of a challenge. Candy making in general is a very precise process. It all depends on the exact temperature you bring your mixture to, and from what I know if even a tiny drop of water gets into some mixtures you have already lost.

One of my very favorite shows is Good Eats with Alton Brown on the Food Network. He gets into the nitty gritty scientific portion of why things happen the way they do. For an interesting peek into the ways of turning sugar into Carmel and what happens to the sucrose read here.

A candy thermometer is also mandatory here. A candy thermometer cannot be a meat thermometer or an oven thermometer, or a thermometer to take your temperature. It has some vary unique qualities which AB discusses in this episode-Fudge Factor. And yes, making fudge is considered candy making.

That being said, these orange gumdrops were bright and fruity, perfect texture, not too hard, not too soft. The recipe itself I think is fairly universal, as in you can alter the flavored extract to what you would like. I plan to use this recipe for strawberry, raspberry, mint, and other flavors of gumdrops. I even tried root beer, which turned out OK, but they were a little strong, I may have used too much extract!

Orange Gumdrops (from Taste of Home)

2 tsp butter, softened and divided

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of light corn syrup

3/4 cup of water

1 package powdered fruit pectin (1 and 3/4 oz size)
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp grated orange peel

4 drops of yellow food coloring (I used a gel food coloring, thats what I had on hand)

1 drop of red

superfine sugar for sanding

Line the bottom of a 9"x5" loaf pan with aluminum foil. Grease the foil lining with 1 tsp of the softened butter. Grease bottom and sides of a large heavy saucepan with remaining butter. Add sugar and corn syrup to the pan. Cook and stir on medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to stir occasionally until candy thermometer reads 280 degrees (soft crack stage.)

Meanwhile in another large saucepan, add the water, pectin, and baking soda (mixture will bubble.) Cook and stir over high heat until the mixture comes to a boil, about two minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

When the corn syrup mixtures nears the 280 degree mark, move the water and pectin mixture back to heat source and bring up to a simmer. As soon as the corn syrup mixture hits the 280 degree mark, remove from heat.

Carefully and slowly add the corn syrup mixture to the water and pectin mixture and a very thin stream while constantly stirring. I'm not going to lie, it's nice to have an extra set of hands around for this process, but it can be done on your own. Once that is complete, add the orange zest, extract, and food coloring and stir to combine.

Move the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and allow to set undisturbed for two hours. At this point, move the set gumdrops to a cutting board and cut. I chose to cut mine into cubes, but you do as you wish. Roll each gumdrop in superfine sugar to coat.

Store in an airtight container.

**If you do not have superfine sugar, place 2 cups of granulated sugar in the blender or food processor and pulse for a minute or two, that should yield similair results to superfine sugar.