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.
