Anise Biscotti Dipped in Dark Chocolate

Biscotti was made for dunking!

After a little time off and a new laptop (beer + technology = disaster) I am back. This is one of my favorite recipes, and I am currently tweaking it for a more fallish flavor...you know what that means!

 I have blogged a few biscotti recipes, and made many, many more.  The original Aunt Molly, a Lo-Fat Chocolate version, yummy White Chocolate and Ginger,  the ones I made for the Bloggable Wine Guy, and my mom's famous Doctor Biscotti.  They are all "good".  Aunt Molly made the best, and sadly even making her recipe, in her handwriting, they don't hit the nostalgia button.  I know what I remember, and I have yet to duplicate it.  Until....it was a typical Friday night in June a few years back.  There were hundreds of baseball games happening, and the most prolific umpire of all, and his son were out officiating.  The princess was busy with her social calendar and I, alone,  headed to the kitchen.  I had gone through a pile of magazines headed for the trash and tore out the things I thought I should try.  And there in all it's wintery goodness, snowflake background and all, was a biscotti recipe.  Why not.  It is hands down, the very, very best biscotti ever.  Period.  End of story.

Needless to say, I didn't follow the recipe from Cooking Light November 2007, exactly, but here's how it went down.  Now remember, this is my biscotti.  It may not be the one you love, but my family is sold and so am I!

Dark Chocolate Dipped Anise Biscotti

1 cup flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon anise extract
2 Tablespoons butter, unsalted, softened
2 eggs

3 ounces premium dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350º.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.   Whisk to combine.  Beat butter and sugar in a separate bowl with a mixer, until blended.  Add eggs and anise, beat well.  Add flour mixture, mix until blended.  Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead.  Shape into long log.  Bake on greased sheet or Silpat covered sheet.  Bake about 40 minutes.  Cool on rack and reduce oven temp to 300º.  Slice and place cut side down and bake again for about 10 minutes on each side.  Cool completely on racks.

Heat chocolate in double boiler or in micro until smooth.  Dip or spread onto cookies,  just on one side.  Allow to harden before storing in airtight container in cool place.  Make an espresso and call me over for 3 o'clock coffee!  Makes about 2 dozen.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!

The World's Most Amazing Chocolate Biscotti with Walnuts and Chocolate Chunks

Perfect to dunk...

Grandma and Sookie.  

My mom is a brown noser. Yep, I said it. In her late 60's, (not the 1960's) she went back to college to get her BA in Creative Writing. And you know how parents always tell their kids to engage their professors, make sure they know your name, go visit them during office hours? Well she took it a step further. She would bake cookies for her teachers. So these poor unassuming college professors are there to critique her plays and essays and they are derailed by the wafts of Pernigotti Cocoa and Madagascar Vanilla, toasted almonds and walnuts.

Are you surprised she was an A student? Teachers everywhere wish they were lucky enough to have a student like her! Of course, I may be exaggerating a little as she is a published author and a playwright lucky enough to have seen about 7 plays produced on stage. She walked across the stage at the Tropicana Dome to receive that diploma right at her 70th birthday!

She has an on going eye problem that frankly hasn't slowed her down a bit, but is the elephant in the room, so to speak. Her specialist for her eye problem is an amazing physician. I have accompanied her on more than one occasion and love, love, love this man! He has the bedside manner a patient could only dream of their physician having, he is engaging and spends a great amount of time covering her concerns. Although she is regular in his office, he never treats her appointments as routine. And he looks like he jumped off the pages of GQ. The man can flat out dress, all the way down to the ink pen. (I covet things like ink pens).

no nuts in these

So one day, she decides to bring the nice doctor some chocolate biscotti. It seems that the perfect doctor maybe isn't so keen on sharing. This happens when grown men are given possession of chocolate cookies, homemade, in the presence of a multitude of women. He just didn't want to start a cat fight with my mom's biscotti. I think it was pretty smart of him personally. But oh, now that he's had a taste of them, don't you know he wants more! So she went back this week, biscotti in tow. And the relief of the doctor, she told him she baked another batch for his staff! Whew! No more sneaking the cookies around.

And here is the recipe. Seriously worth hiding from others. But the caveat. Don't even bother making these with grocery cocoa or grocery vanilla. They would never pass the test. My Williams Sonoma may have shuttered its door,  but the vanilla can be found many places.  The Pernigotti Cocoa may be a bit tougher to find.  And when it comes to toasting your nuts, trust me.  Toasting stovetop in a pan is the trick.  If you're like me, you are doing a dozen things at one time, and the nuts toasting in the oven are forgotten...until you smell them.  Then, it's too late!  So, get the ovens preheated. We're baking biscotti!



Chocolate Biscotti

Combine and set aside, sifting is always a good idea...
4 1/2 C flour
2 tea. baking powder
1 tea. salt
1/2 c Pernigotti Cocoa (Williams Sonoma)

3/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
3/4 cup chocolate chunks

Cream:
3 C sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp),
4 large eggs, (room temp)
3 tea. Madagascar vanilla (Williams Sonoma)

Cream the wet ingredients until fully mixed.  Add the dry ingredients slowly and mix until no dry spots are found.  Add in chocolate and walnuts. You can add espresso powder for a mocha taste, almond extract if you like that flavor. It is a great cookie to try new ideas with!



On parchment paper on baking sheet, shape into 2 logs, 2 1/2 inches wide x 9 1/2 long x 1 inch high and bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes. Cool about 30 minutes. Slice into 1/2 inch slices and put on large wire rack (so they toast on both sides) for 10 minutes. Cool before storing.

Make some coffee, and invite me over!

The World's Best Biscotti

Yep, I really mean it.  I have blogged a few biscotti recipes, and made many, many more.  The original Aunt Molly, a Lo-Fat Chocolate version, yummy White Chocolate and Ginger, and the ones I made for the Bloggable Wine Guy.  And my mom's famous Doctor Biscotti.  They are all "good".  Aunt Molly made the best, and sadly even making her recipe, in her handwriting, they don't don't hit the nostalgia button.  I know what I remember, and I have yet to duplicate it.  Until....  It was a typical Friday night in June.  There were hundreds of baseball games happening, and the most prolific umpire of all, and his son were out officiating.  The princess was busy with her social calendar and I, alone,  headed to the kitchen.  I had gone through a pile of magazines headed for the trash and tore out the things I thought I should try.  And there in all it's wintery goodness, snowflake background and all, was a biscotti recipe.  Why not.  It is hands down, the very, very best biscotti ever.  Period.  End of story.

Needless to say, I didn't follow the recipe from Cooking Light November 2007,  exactly, but here's how it went down.  Now remember, this is my biscotti.  It may not be the one you love, but my family is sold and so am I!

Dark Chocolate Dipped Anise Biscotti

1 cup flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon anise extract
2 Tablespoons butter, unsalted, softened
2 eggs

3 ounces premium dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.   Whisk to combine.  Beat butter and sugar in a separate bowl with a mixer, until blended.  Add eggs and anise, beat well.  Add flour mixture, mix until blended.  Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead.  Shape into long log.  Bake on greased sheet or Silpat covered sheet.  Bake about 40 minutes.  Cool on rack and reduce oven temp to 300.  Slice and place cut side down and bake again for about 10 minutes on each side.  Cool completely on racks.

Heat chocolate in double boiler or in micro until smooth.  Dip or spread onto cookies, just on one side.  Allow to harden before storing in airtight container in cool place.  Make an espresso and call me over for 3 o'clock coffee!  Makes about 2 dozen.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!

Chocolate Revisited

A number of years ago I aquired a book called Chocolate and The Art of Low-Fat Desserts by Alice Medrich. It was published in 1994 and the low fat craze was pretty rampant. However, this book doesn't have crazy, icky fat replacements in it. It uses a lot of egg whites (which we all know I LOVE!), and the few recipes I go back to over and over are terrific. I decided it was time to revisit this book. The pages are chocolate stained, the post-its are hanging out around the edges. My parents are coming, and my mom needs (strong word here, but it is true) a cookie fix every once in awhile. This woman can nibble a single biscotti for about 4 days, she is very mouse-like in her eating habits. So the first batch of biscotti I made from Cooking Light (an old recipe as well) disappeared pretty quick. Since my parents get here tomorrow, I decided I better bake again and get these in the freezer. No one ever looks there. And chocolate seemed appropriate with the Valentine's holiday looming. I chopped my pistachios because I have a teenage daughter who would not like the look of green nuts in her chocolate biscotti. Seriously. When she tasted these, she declared them absolutely delicious, it would not be so if those green pistachios were staring her down! Chocolate Biscotti
⅔ cup whole almonds or hazelnuts (I used pistachios)
1 ¾ cup flour (I used whole wheat)
⅓ cup cocoa (I used Pernigotti)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt (I omitted since my pistachios were salted)
1 Tablespoon Espresso Powder
⅓ cup semi sweet morsels (get a good brand, I am using Guittard)
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract, optional (I opted out) Preheat to 350 °. Toast the nuts briefly in the oven. Cool completely and chop. Reduce oven to 300° and line baking sheet with parchment. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a bowl. In food processor, chop the chocolate with about a quarter of the flour mixture until crumb-like. I toss the rest of the flour mixture in the processor and use the bowl for the eggs.
Beat the eggs and egg whites with the sugar, vanilla and almond if using. Mixture will be thick and sticky. Pour in flour mixture in processor and pulse to mix. Toss in the cooled nuts, mix quick.

Shape into 3 skinny logs about 12" long and bake for 45 minutes. They will spread. Cool the loaves for about 15 minutes and remove from pan. Slice them with a bread knife and return to pan and bake again for 20-25 minutes until crispy. Flip over halfway through. Cool and store airtight.

Now, if you have shoddy dental work, be careful. The egg whites make these cookies pretty hard. But biscotti are shaped long for a reason...to dunk. The Itlaians prefer Vin Santo, but since we tend to eat these around the clock, I stick to coffee, tea and milk. They are wonderful and satisfy a chocolate craving for sure. Her stats say 47 calories per cookie in a batch of 50-60.
Stay tuned for the low fat chocolate souffles....they were delish!

The Doctor's Favorite Cookies

My mom is a brown noser. Yep, I said it. In her late 60's, (not the 1960's) she went back to college to get her BA in Creative Writing. And you know how parents always tell their kids to engage their professors, make sure they know your name, go visit them during office hours? Well she took it a step further. She would bake cookies for her teachers. So these poor unassuming college professors are there to critique her plays and essays and they are derailed by the wafts of Pernigotti Cocoa and Madagascar Vanilla, toasted almonds and walnuts. Are you surprised she was an A student? Teachers everywhere wish they were lucky enough to have a student like her! Of course, I may be exaggerating a little as she is a published author and a playwright lucky enough to have seen her work on stage. She walked across the stage at the Tropicana Dome to receive that diploma right at her 70th birthday!

She has an on going eye problem that frankly hasn't slowed her down a bit, but is the elephant in the room, so to speak. Her specialist for her eye problem is an amazing physician. I have accompanied her on more than one occasion and love, love, love this man! He has the bedside manner a patient could only dream of their physician having, he is engaging and spends a great amount of time covering her concerns. Although she is regular in his office, he never treats her appointments as routine. And he looks like he jumped off the pages of GQ. The man can flat out dress, all the way down to the ink pen. (I covet things like ink pens).
So one day, she decides to bring the nice doctor some chocolate biscotti. It seems that the perfect doctor maybe isn't so keen on sharing. This happens when grown men are given possession of chocolate cookies, homemade, in the presence of a multitude of women. He just didn't want to start a cat fight with my mom's biscotti. I think it was pretty smart of him personally. But oh, now that he's had a taste of them, don't ya know he wants more! So she went back this week, biscotti in tow. And the relief of the doctor, when she told him she baked another batch for his staff! Whew! No more sneaking the cookies around. And here is the recipe. Seriously worth hiding from others. But the caveat. Don't even bother making these with grocery cocoa or grocery vanilla. They would never pass the test. Yep, I work there, nope they do not pay me to endorse. I just like really good stuff and I promise you, there is no substitute for the vanilla and cocoa found at Williams Sonoma. So, get the ovens preheated. We're baking!

Chocolate Biscotti

Combine and set aside, sifting is always a good idea...
2 1/4 C flour
1 tea. baking powder
1/2 tea. salt
1/4 c Pernigotti Cocoa (Williams Sonoma)

Cream:
1 1/2 C sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (room temp),
2 large eggs, (room temp)
1 tea. Madagascar vanilla (Williams Sonoma)

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, add 1/2 cup chopped nuts that have been lightly toasted and or add mini chocolate chips. You can add espresso powder for a mocha taste, almond extract if you like that flavor. It is a great cookie to try new ideas with!

On parchment paper on baking sheet, shape into 2 logs, 2 1/2 inches wide x 9 1/2 long x 1 inch high and bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes. Cool about 30 minutes. Slice into 1/2 inch slices and put on large wire rack (so they toast on both sides) for 10 minutes. Cool before storing.

Gingered White Chocolate Biscotti

I have been on a cookie hiatus this month, but I broke down, I needed a little something sweet, dang it. I scoured the pantry and found leftover white chocolate chips, not my favorite, and crystallized ginger, and it reminded me of a biscotti Lori passed on to me a number of years ago. Something intriguing happens when you bake those white chips with ginger, sort of a flavor explosion, and a delicious explosion at that. I was thinking she got the recipe from Cooking Light, but there were no results from my search. I found similar recipes on the web, but didn't see it attributed to anyone in particular, and many were biscotti coated in white chocolate. Blech! . It's a really crumbly dough, so I usually moisten it a little so it doesn't crumble all over and makes it easier to manipulate. They bake up very crunchy on the second baking which makes for great dunkers!


Ginger White Chocolate Biscotti

2 cups flour
⅔ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons crystallized ginger, minced
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
4 oz white chocolate chips or chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg white

Combine flour, sugar, ginger, soda and salt in a large bowl. Add chocolate chips. Combine next three ingredients with a whisk and add to flour mixture. I sometimes add a Tablespoon of milk to help it bind together. Shape into log and bake on parchment or Silpat at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 325°. Slice logs into ½" slices and bake to dry out, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Delicious and easy! So...get in there and bake!

The Bloggable Wine Guy!

You know all those high brow cookbooks where the authors tell you to make friends with the butcher, the fish monger, the farmer at the market? Well, I'm not sure about you, but I have yet to meet a fish monger in land-locked Memphis (the Mississippi does NOT count). There is a butcher at the meat market, but the dudes at the grocery don't do much meat cutting, I know, my dad is a master. And as for meeting farmers, I get to the market a few times a month and there are hoards of people, unfortunately no one remembers me. But for me, I think the most valuable person in a foodies arsenal is the Wine Guy.

I love my liquor store. It is all of 2 minutes away, yes, I timed it. They have a great selection, and they have a happiness guaranteed policy. I am not a creature of habit when it comes to drinking. I am in the habit of drinking a few times a week, and I prefer something red, preferably a pinot, but I hop from label to label. If I buy one and hate it, I return it...no questions asked. I love that. Did I mention my Wine Guy? Jim. He knows everything there is to know about wine, and if he doesn't, well then he is a great salesman. But he has yet to lead me astray. Yesterday my sister and I went in for a bottle, and left with 6. Now that's a sales job! The cheapest, about $12, the best about $32. He would never make me feel bad if I wanted a $12 bottle of wine to enjoy with a night of American Idol. Which we did with an A to Z Rose, delicious!

Last summer, I ran in for a quick bottle because I had biscotti in the oven. ATTENTION NOVICE BAKERS: Do not try an alcohol run with cookies in the oven! When I mentioned I was in a hurry because of the cookies, he hinted that perhaps my service would be better with a few samples....okay, what the hell. I'm Italian, and I really love to feed people. So I brought him biscotti. He wanted more this week, so I pulled out my newest cookbook, totally altered the recipe (sorry Chef Stitt) and am offering my sugar for the Wine Guy.

As an aside, this is the greatest attachment for a stand mixer. This particular brand is a SideSwipe. I ordered it online at www.sideswipeblade.com. The silicone flaps on the flat beater make mixing quicker, scraping down unnecessary and whipping up dough a breeze. Do not use it for bread and pizza dough, but try it out for cookies and cakes. It's a winner!

BISCOTTI

2 cups unbleached flour
1 ¼ cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
2 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
5 eggs, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1⅓ cup coarsely chopped raw almonds: I didn't have time to toast them and the cookies were great!

Mix dry ingredients in a a small bowl. In a bowl of electric mixer, mix eggs and sugar until pale and thick. Add extracts and mix. Slowly add dry ingredients, and then the almonds Add a few Tablespoons milk if necessary to bind the dough. Using your hands form 2 logs on a large baking sheet lined with a Silpat. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until cooked but not too brown. Cool logs about 10 minutes and slice into ½" thick slices. Turn oven to 325° and bake about 10 minutes more until crunchy and golden brown. Great Dunkers!

So, if you're in Memphis, check out my Wine Guy at Baptist Liquor (okay, it's called Poplar Pike Liquor, after a glass I'll tell ya how the Baptist name came to be). Ask for Jim, and if you're up for anything, start with the Morgan Pinot Noir. MMMMMMM!
Now get in there and cook!

Aunt Molly Cookies (Popadelli)

Aunt Molly was tall, that I remember. We went to her home on a few occasions, but she visited us only once to my recollection, but what a visit. She prowled around our woods one afternoon and brought in these leafy plants, they resembled a rhubarb, but weren't red. I know now they are in the thistle family, and called cardoons. She stripped the leaves and trimmed the woody stems, sort of like you would trim celery, peeling the stringy outsides off. Then she cut them into 4" pieces and dipped them in egg, then flour and fried them. They were wonderful. I don't think I ever had them again. I tried unsuccessfully to plant thistle here in Memphis, but to no avail. Cardoons are just a memory.
However, on that same visit, Aunt Molly baked cookies. I didn't watch her do this, but remember the sweet crunch of these cookies. They were unlike anything I had ever eaten. They were a little complicated for me as a 12 year old, but my mom would make them pretty often, and we fondly called them Aunt Molly Cookies. Many years later when I was a student in Boulder, I walked into this small shop and there was a huge jar on the counter filled with Aunt Molly Cookies. I couldn't believe it. They called them Biscotti, I had never heard them referred to as that. So I shelled out $2 for nothing but disappointment. When my weekly phone call home rolled around I told my mom about them, what they were called and how awful they were.
So here we are many years later, and I am baking Aunt Molly Cookies. The aged recipe is written in her handwriting which is as tall and perfect as she was. I do it a few times a year, and this time I decided to try a few changes. The original recipe follows, with my little changes. I tried both batches with the addition of rice flour. King Arthur has a biscotti cookie mix that Lori sent me and it is so good, I tried to figure out how to make them ourselves. The only odd ingredient was rice flour and I assumed it was to make the crumb a little more delicate and crunchy. I like the taste of Aunt Molly's, but I had a hard time getting that crunch. I also used the grocery brand of Anise extract and used a half teaspoon. It wasn't enough for that pronounced flavor I love. The traditional needed a full teaspoon on anise extract.
I have in the past used Pure Anise Oil, in which case a little dab will do ya. It is way too potent, and one drop too much is like mouthwash. I have seen recipes that use Sambucca for that anise flavor, but I think the extract works well.
The second batch I made I substituted the white sugar and added brown sugar. There is a cookie called Biscoff, if you fly Delta you know what I'm talking about. I decided brown sugar is what gives those little jewels their crunch and flavor, so I skipped the anise and added vanilla. Both results were delicious. The biscotti made with only brown sugar looked no different than the originals, but perhaps a little sweeter.
I have slowly started replacing my insulated cookie sheets that I have used for 12 years. The traditional sheets I bought cook much faster and the bottoms get brown very quickly on lower racks. So I have a little relearning to do. I think I would like the first baking on the insulated sheet, and the second baking on the traditional sheets so they brown nicely. This same recipe runs on Epicurious.com, but has twice the amount of butter which would make them more of a cookie designed for the American palate.
Aunt Molly Cookies
1/4 lb. butter
3/4 cup sugar (brown sugar tastes great too)
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. white flour
3/4 c. rice flour (you may use all white flour)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon anise extract (use vanilla for a more subtle cookie)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream butter, add sugar and then eggs. Add sifted dry ingredients.
Roll dough into 2 long logs and bake at 370 until light brown. About 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool on rack about 10 minutes and then slice into 1/4" slices on the diagonal and bake about 5 minutes on each side to crisp them.

Good Things at Goodwill

I drive by a Goodwill drop off a few times a week. Every time I pass, I think, "Dang, I have 7 bags of clothes in the garage". It took me months to summon up the strength to clean out all of Nic's stuff, and I can't seem to move them out of the garage. One of these days I'll remember to bring them and accept the fact that he is in uniform pretty much from here on. Last week as I passed, I noticed Goodwill had opened a bookstore. Wow! What a find!

It's a small store, clean and very organized. The clerk knew everything she had. Because of our proximity to Oxford, MS, there was a huge selection of Grisham books in hardcover, some rare books behind glass, and a section devoted solely to my favorite past time...cooking.

Most were give away books from food manufacturers, and a lot of collections from Time Life, Bon Apettit, and Southern Living to name a few. Tucked on one of the shelves was a Biscotti cookbook. It is by Lou Seibert Pappas, and having been at Williams Sonoma for 11 years, I can tell you she writes a lot of books. They are very specific cookbooks, Fondue, Crockery Cooking, Ice Cream, Pumpkins, to name just a few, but I had never seen this book. It was published in 1992, and has the most adorable hand drawings by Piet Halberstadt.

I looked it up on Amazon to see if it was available, and found one used copy for $20. I guess that makes my $2 book a great bargain! The original retail price was $10. I have to wonder, did paper prices explode over the last 15 years? Why are cookbooks so expensive? I wouldn't think twice about picking up books on a whim if they ran $10-$15 each. Almost every cookbook I have looked at recently is at least $35.

The book includes baking tips and about 28 recipes. Virtually every one calls for almonds which happens to be the nut I don't have on hand. So today we improvised the Double Chocolate Decadence recipe and used walnuts. The result is fabulous. I changed a few things and it is my revised recipe that follows. I can hardly wait to try another!

Double Chocolate Decadence
2/3 cup walnuts
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons strong brewed coffee
1 teaspoon good vanilla
2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour (I used King Arthur's white whole wheat)
1/3 cup Pernigotti cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate

Toast the walnuts in a small fry pan over medium heat moving constantly to prevent burning. When the walnuts are fragrant and toasted set aside to cool.
Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Add eggs, coffee and vanilla. Mix well. Add all dry ingredients and mix until they are incorporated. Fold in the chocolate and walnuts and distribute evenly.
Form 2 logs on a Silpat covered cookie sheet. The logs should be a few inches apart and extend the length of cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and slide Silpat onto cooling rack. Allow logs to cool for 5 minutes or so. Slice the logs on a cutting board at a 45 degree angle and place back on cookie sheet. Bake again for about 5-10 minutes or until they are nicely toasted.
Enjoy!