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Cookies

100% Whole Wheat, Orange, Nut and Olive Oil Biscotti

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Winter in Florida means citrus…jacked up citrus.  It’s the season for heavy with juice, dimple skinned, brilliantly colored oranges, lemons, limes and kumquats all begging to be juiced, baked or eaten out of hand.  I had a hankering for a crunchy dunking cookie and this is the end result.  I debated whether to drizzle a little icing or dark chocolate over the tops, both go so well with orange, but I opted for neither and went for a more European, unadorned cookie.  And healthful.  No white flour allowed today.  In working with the recipe I used pecans in some batches and walnuts in others.  Both are excellent but only if toasted prior to baking otherwise the nuts are bland and lost in the biscotti.  It’s a simple recipe and easy.

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As I’ve written in other posts, I strongly, strongly suggest using parchment paper to line your baking sheet.   It can be found at the grocery store but the paper is in a roll like tin foil or wax paper which makes it tricky to work with.  The ends of the paper curl imitating the roll in the box.  Flat sheets are found in many food warehouses and are much, much cheaper.  Leave them to cool completely before storing them and the cookies will remain crisp.  Dunk in a cup of coffee, hot tea or a glass of milk for a satisfying treat.

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100% Whole Wheat, Orange, Nut and Olive Oil Biscotti

  • Servings: approximately 50 biscotti
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

  • 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour + extra to shape the dough
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt, a pinch
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons grated orange zest
  • 2 tablespoons orange liqueur, optional
  • 2 teaspoons orange oil or extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans
  1. Pre-heat oven to 300°.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt until completely combined.  Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a standup mixer add the eggs and, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs until broken up.
  4. To the eggs add the sugar and olive oil and mix until well combined.
  5. Add to the egg mixture the orange zest, liqueur if using, orange oil or extract, vanilla and mix until completely combined and the orange zest is evenly mixed through and not in clumps.
  6. Add the flour mixture and nuts to the egg mixture and slowly beat until all ingredients are well mixed and there are no wet spots on the bottom of the bowl.  The dough will be heavy and sticky.
  7. Sprinkle flour on the counter and on your hands, divide the dough in half and roll each half into logs measuring about 14″X3″X1″.
  8. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper leaving 2 inches between the logs.
  9. Bake for 30 minutes then remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes.
  10. Move one log to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut each log diagonally into 1/4 inch cookies.  Place cut cookies back on baking sheet cut side up.  Slice the second log in the same manner.
  11. Return baking sheet to the oven and bake 30 minutes, turning over cookies after 15 minutes of baking.
  12. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing.

http://www.theirreverentkitchen.com

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Cookies

Lemon Lavender Biscotti dipped in White Chocolate

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How many times is a kindness extended to you and a grateful “thank you!” just isn’t quite enough?  I don’t know about you but it happens to me quite often.  From your manicurist who graciously fits you in for that emergency mani when she clearly doesn’t have the time to the seamstress at your dry cleaner who will have your LBD back to you altered and pressed in time for the funeral your weight gain didn’t take into consideration.  These acts of generosity are evident time and again in my day-to-day life and in the lives of my loved ones.  My 93-year-old father has a whole support group who work at Publix and make the quality of his life much better from engaging him in conversation to helping him choose the most nutritious almond milk.  Kesha and David can’t replace my mother but their attentions make him feel valued and respected.  I can certainly tip the skycap who didn’t charge me when my suitcase was four pounds over last week but I don’t have the money to do that for someone I deal with on a weekly basis.  That’s when I put together a pretty bag of goodies.  Here in Boston a certain dental office bent over backwards to take care of us during a little “cosmetic” emergency.  I wanted to say thank you not only to the dentist who saved the day but also to his staff who got us in ASAP and treated us with the utmost warmth and concern.  I thought most definitely wine for the kind doctor and how about a sweet treat for the wonderful ladies at the front desk?  Our apartment is fabulous but I am really limited as to cooking and baking tools.  I brought my knives and sharpener from home and picked up a few essentials on Newbury Street…bowls, spatulas etc.  I always set aside an empty wine bottle in the kitchen in the event I need a rolling-pin.  But I don’t have a food processor or hand mixer.  I decided on biscotti since I don’t need any special equipment, they’re easy to prepare and travel well.  Dunk them in coffee or vin santo.  Grab one for breakfast or a snack on the fly.  This recipe produces a firm biscotti but not one that will break a tooth.  They seem a bit soft when taken out of the oven for the final cooling but will harden sufficiently by the time they’re completely cool.  Enjoy them and thank you!

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Lemon Lavender Biscotti dipped in White Chocolate

  • Servings: approximately 20
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

  • 2 lemons, zest both and juice
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon dried EDIBLE lavender flowers, rough chop optional
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 8 ounces white chocolate
  1. In a large bowl combine lemon zest and juice, sugar, butter, lemon and vanilla extracts and eggs.  Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
  2. In a separate bowl mix flour, lavender, baking powder and salt.
  3. Add flour mixture to lemon-egg mixture and mix until all ingredients are combined.
  4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  6. Cut dough into equal halves and spray a little non-stick pan spray on hands to keep dough from sticking.
  7. Form dough into rectangular logs measuring roughly 11 X 4 X 1.  Smooth tops and sides.
  8. Bake 25 minutes and cool on racks for 10-15 minutes.
  9. With a bread knife or serrated knife cut logs on the diagonal about 1 1/2″ thick.
  10. Reduce heat to 325°, place cookies cut side up back on parchment lined baking sheets and bake 5 minutes.
  11. Turn over cookies baking the other cut side 5 more minutes.
  12. Cool on wire racks.  Cookies will seem soft when just out of oven but will firm up as they cool.
  13. Melt white chocolate over double boiler.  When chocolate has almost but not quite melted completely drizzle over cookies or dip in one end of each cookie.  Or dip one cut side.  Place on parchment paper to set.  If white chocolate cools and thickens while working with it place back in double boiler and stir until warm and easy to work with.

http://www.theirreverentkitchen .com

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Dessert

Double Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti for my Chocolate Queen

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I love those special days, Mother’s Day being one, when everyone’s nice to you and you get to do anything you want.  I got out of bed this morning when I wanted to, got dressed and left the house to work out.  What a gorgeous day!!  The sun was out and stiff breezes kept me cool.  An hour later I returned home red-faced, wet and happy knowing I won’t have to do this again until tomorrow!  I prepared my breakfast while listening to Rick Steve’s travel program on NPR.  It was a predictable Mother’s Day program but I almost lost it when he spoke of his mother who had passed away a few days after this past Christmas.  It was quite touching.  He spoke of the gifts his mother had given him and credited her with giving him the gift of travel.  Made me think of our Cookie.  She was so cool, we just didn’t know it!   She gave us the gift of language when she insisted we speak Spanish.  Keep in mind, when I was growing up, there were really no Hispanics in Fort Lauderdale.  Granted, we traveled often to Puerto Rico and would stay for long periods of time, but we also had to write our thank you notes and letters in Spanish and her frequent calls to the family meant WE had to actively participate in those conversations.  I’d always try to sneak out of the house when I heard her speaking in Spanish on the telephone.  And I’d always get caught.  Mama would pull me to the phone, hissing in my ear “YOU GET ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW AND SAY HELLO TO EVERYONE.  DO NOT EMBARRASS ME!”.  I hated it.  With a dark and sullen look on my face I would brightly say, “Hi, Madrinita!  It’s Alicia.  How are you?”.  I could feel my tongue getting thick and tangled up and self-consciousness would creep in.  Well, guess what?  At 56 years old I still speak Spanish.  Relatively well, and without an accent.  I can thank Mama for the gift of language.  That just staggers me.  She gave us ANOTHER LANGUAGE.  Mama also gave us the gift of faith.  We were all raised Catholic and we WERE at church every Sunday morning.  And we went to catechism.  Holy days of obligation were always observed and confession was said every week.  I don’t talk about it much because religion is extremely intimate to me.  Faith was not a big deal until I hit a rough patch.  Loneliness and fear struck debilitating blows at 3:00 in the morning.  Anger, pain and confusion played dominant roles in my pathetic, crumbling life.  What did I do?  More importantly, where did I turn?  My church.   Mama had given us the foundation and solace of religion.  Without it, I would not be here today.  ‘Nuff said.  On a more shallow note, she taught us to appreciate….JEWELS!!!  Pearls, gold, rubies, emeralds, it matters not which stone.  If you love it, it CAN be yours!  Anything!  A car.  That $800.00 bag you just can’t live without.  Save.  Just save.  She taught me that even 10 bucks a week will one day become seven thousand dollars and, you TOO, can be the proud owner of the fillintheblank!  She taught us no matter how little money you have, you can always save.  You girls out there need to pay attention to this.  Open your own account and keep it.  Maintain it.  You don’t have to tell anybody, either.  It’s MORE than humiliating to have to ask.  It’s contemptible to have to ask a man.  Get it yourself and you’ll enjoy whatever it is way more!  Mama taught us, in NO uncertain terms, your name is one of the few things you always have.  You represent your entire family…in my case, the Puerto Rican, the French, the English, and the more recent Greek.  Anytime we’d leave the house, especially after nightfall, she would call out to us, “Fly your banner high!”.  I have to admit, I made more wrong choices than I would have liked, but there WERE times when her words would ring in my ears and I did the right thing.  “Fly your banner high.”  I really do believe we all did.  Well, at least we tried!

My birthday, 2006

Mama loved chocolate.  One could safely say she loved chocolate as she would have a fifth child!  It mattered not if it was a Snickers bar or the finest chocolates of Europe.  She loved them all.  And you could never, EVER, have too much.  She and Daddy never really fussed much but one time, when Dad came home from a speaking trip abroad, he mentioned to her that he had been given boxes and boxes of fine Swiss and French chocolates, gifts from his clients.  He didn’t want to be weighted down or inconvenienced by carrying them on the flight home so he just left them unopened in the hotel room for the chambermaid.  Mama was furious.  She just BLEW UP.  “But, Jackson, you KNOW how I love chocolate!  How could you!! How could you!!”.  It wasn’t pretty.  So, itty bitty precious Mama, I give you CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP PISTACHIO BISCOTTI.  And Happy Mother’s Day!  You duh Mama!!!!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pistachio Biscotti

yield: 13-14 biscotti not including the end pieces, (they’re the baker’s treat!)

  • 7 tablespoons of softened butter, one is for the baking sheet
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup shelled pistachios
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Line a standard size baking sheet with parchment paper and, using on tablespoon of butter, spread evenly on parchment, down the middle, covering approximately 13 X 5 inches.  Just eyeball it.
  3. In a medium bowl whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
  4. Using a stand-up mixer if you have one, otherwise use an electric mixer or arm power, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  5. Add eggs and beat until well combined.
  6. Add flour mixture and stir to form a stiff dough.
  7. Add pistachios and chocolate chips.  I stir this addition in by hand.
  8. Transfer dough to prepared parchment paper and form into a 12″ X 4″ flat log.  Smooth and shape where needed.
  9. Bake until slightly firm, roughly 25 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.
  11. Reduce oven temperature to 300°.
  12. Transfer log to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1″ thick slices.  I always use a serrated knife.
  13. Return to baking sheet, cut side down, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8-10 minutes.
  14. Cool completely before storing.