Posts Tagged ‘Biscotti’

Banana Chip Biscotti

Friday, April 10th, 2009

I spotted this recipe for Banana Nut Biscotti on the blog Gaga In the Kitchen (originally from Cooking Light). I’ve been meaning to try my hand at biscotti for a while, and this recipe looked like a fun departure from the usual biscotti flavors. I absolutely love banana bread, but since I am not a fan of nuts, I decided to use mini chocolate chips instead.

This was my first attempt at biscotti, so I don’t know exactly how the dough is supposed to feel. When I combined the wet and dry ingredients, the resulting dough was quite crumbly and did not hold together well. Since I may not have added enough mashed banana, I threw in an additional tablespoon of canola oil and a little more mashed banana. After these additions, the dough was soft, moist and workable.

I was quite happy to find that making biscotti is very easy, and the resulting cookies are delicious! These biscotti have a nice subtle banana flavor, and the chocolate chips work well. I will be making these again, and look forward to trying other biscotti recipes. Any recommendations on what I should try next?

Banana Chip Biscotti

Yields 24 cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 1 banana)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350?.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, combine banana, oil, vanilla, and egg.
4. Stir in flour mixture. The dough should be sticky. If it is not moist enough, add additional mashed banana or vegetable oil.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, shape dough into 2 (8-inch-long) rolls.
7. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray or parchment paper.
8. Place rolls on prepared baking sheet and flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.
9. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until tops are golden and firm.
10. Remove rolls from baking sheet and cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.
11. Cut both rolls diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. You should get 12 slices per roll.
12. Place slices, cut side down, on baking sheet.
13. Reduce oven temperature to 250 and bake for 15 minutes.
14. Turn the cookies over and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
15. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack. The cookie centers may be slightly soft, but will harden as they cool.

Cherry Lemonade Biscotti

Monday, February 9th, 2009

I started making Biscotti over the holidays because I found a recipe I liked, and I really love a tasty cookie along with my coffee in the morning. Between all the holiday parties and family functions we attended, I’ve tried a bunch of different recipes since – I find that this one has a great taste and texture without huge amounts of fat. It is modified from a Cooking Light recipe for plain lemon biscotti - my main modification includes adding dried cherries, which I personally like the best, but I have tried this recipe using chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts as well. They supposedly freeze well (after baking but before the glazing step!) but I’ve never had enough left to try to freeze them.

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
  • 1 tablespoon lemon extract
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup dried cherries (or cranberries, walnuts, chocolate chips)
  • Cooking spray
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350?.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Combine rind, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, extract, oil, and eggs, and add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Mix cherries into the dough until well incorporated. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 to 8 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 350? for 30 minutes. Remove the rolls from baking sheet; cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch) slices with a serrated knife using very little pressure so the cookies don’t crumble!

Place the slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325?; bake for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 10 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and cool completely on wire rack.

Combine 1 tablespoon lemon juice and powdered sugar, and drizzle over the biscotti.