December 17, 2011

Gingerbread Biscotti

Oh joyous!  I can't think of anything better to accompany my morning cup of coffee than a delicious biscotti.  And better yet if that biscotti has the delicious flavors of the holidays.  The dough for this recipe was really hard to roll out  because of the sticky molasses, so be sure to generously flour your rolling surface. I chose not to glaze these biscotti because I didn't feel they needed the extra flair, but the recipe below has directions for adding glaze.

 














Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 50 mins
Makes: about 30 biscotti

INGREDIENTS:
¾ cup hazelnuts
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup dark brown sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
2 tbsp light olive oil
2/4 cup dark or golden raisins

Glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp milk

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.  Ln a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until brown and fragrant and the skins are starting to peel.  Remove from oven, cover with a clean dish towel, and let the nuts steam for about five minutes.  Then briskly rub nuts while in the towel, to remove most of their skins.  Set aside to let the nuts cool and then coarsely chop.

In a food processor, process ½ cup of the rolled oats until finely ground.  In the bowl of your electric mixer (or hand mixer), combine the ½ cup of finely ground oats, the remaining ½ cup of rolled oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, oil and vanilla extract.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat until combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Mix in the chopped hazelnuts and raisins and beat just until incorporated.

Transfer the dough to al lightly floured surface and divide the dough in half.  Take each half of dough and form it into a log, about 12 inches long and 2 inches wide.  Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the tough.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.  Transfer the logs to a cutting board and cut into ¾ inch slices, on the diagonal.  Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 6-8 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 6-8 minutes or until dry and firm.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.

Glaze:  In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, vanilla extract, and enough milk to make a smooth, thick, yet pourable glaze.  Use a small spoon to drizzle several thin lines of the glaze over each biscotti.  Let the biscotti sit at room temperature until the glaze has completely dried.