Snickerdoodle Biscotti

I had never made biscotti before tonight. I was watching an episode of Giada De Laurentiis the other day and she made a biscotti for Christmas. It looked fairly easy so I though it was no big deal... I was right! I saw this recipe on Fountain Avenue Kitchen (written by Ann Fulton) today and since I had everything it called for in the kitchen I decided to try it tonight. Super easy and yummy!!!! I don't drink tea or coffee, but I'm pretty sure this would go great with it :) 

 

 

 

 

Snickerdoodle Biscotti

 

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

 

 

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large egg white

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

2. Measure flour into a large bowl being careful not to pack the flour into the measuring cups. (Scoop into cups and then level with a knife to prevent getting too much flour.)

 

3. Add the 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt.

 

4. Mix the oil, vanilla and 3 whole eggs in a small bowl. Add to the large bowl. Your dough will be dry and quite crumbly.

 

5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead and sort of mush together. At first it will seem too dry–I was skeptical the first time!–but it will come together.

 

6. Divide in half. Shape each portion into a roll about 8 inches long, and place them several inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

 

7. Flatten each roll so they are about 1 inch thick.

 

8. Combine the 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tops of the rolls with the egg white and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. It may seem like too much, but sprinkle it all on, tilting the baking sheet a bit so you can get the sides, too.

 

9. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

10. Remove loaves from the baking sheet and cool for 15 minutes.

 

11. Cut diagonally into 1/2 inch slices and lay them cut sides down on the cookie sheet again.

 

12. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 10 more minutes, turn over and bake 10 minutes more. They will be soft in the middle but will harden as they cool.

 

13. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

King Arthur's Fudge Brownies

I never, ever thought I would be the kind of person who LOVES a certain kind of flour. Ever. But guess what, I am!!! King Arthur Flour is my favorite flour to use. If you have never looked at their website and love to bake, or knows someone who loves to bake, then I suggest checking out their site immediately. I subscribe to their catalog and they have the coolest, high-quality ingredients. This is an amazing company and I can't say enough about it. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

Now, these brownies... holy moly. They are deep, rich and intensely chocolate-y. I found this recipe on Barbara Bakes, a really fun food blog, and I had to try it. The only cocoa I had readily available was Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, so that's what I used. I don't know if they could be any better using King Arthur's Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa, but if so then please don't ever tell me! These are great. I broke my diet and ate 2 last night. And I had one for dinner. Calories are free on the weekends, right? I had to send the rest of them home with my friends Jenn and Ryan today on their trip back to Oklahoma. I hope they enjoyed them as much as I did!

This is Barbara's picture. For some reason I cannot remember my camera lately!

King Arthur Fudge Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (12 oz. bag) chocolate chips

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan

2) In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla until smooth.

4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

5) Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9″ x 13″ pan.

7) Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

 

Note: Because there are chocolate chips in the batter, you may get melted chocolate onto the cake tester and think they are still raw in the center, so look closely to see if it is melted chocolate or brownie batter on the tester.