Cranberry-Spice Biscotti dipped in White Chocolate: Mellow Bakers

The Mellow Bakers decided to do some festive Holiday baking this month in addition to the breads we usually make. One of the suggestions was to make biscotti.  I’ve never made biscotti so I thought this sounded like a great idea.

I happened upon this Cranberry-Spice Biscotti with White Chocolate recipe and decided it would be the perfect festive recipe. The only problem was it called for crystallized ginger and I didn’t have any and I wasn’t to keen on the prices at the market. So, I did the next best thing and made my own crystallized ginger a couple of days ago. I’m glad I finally decided to make my own.  It was pretty easy and it definitely adds a delicious flavor to these cookies.

 

Cranberry-Spice Biscotti with White Chocolate

by Nancy Baggett

Makes: About 4 dozen cookies

Recipe source: http://www.cookingclub.com/recipes/articletype/articleview/articleid/5183/cranberry-spice-biscotti-with-white-chocolate

The crystallized ginger, coriander and cardamom bring out the flavor of the dried cranberries, and white chocolate adds a complementary mellowness.  In a word, delicious!

Ingredients:

Biscotti

• 1 3/4 cups dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Glaze

• 8 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped  (I used white chocolate morsels)
• 4 teaspoons shortening

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cranberries and ginger in food processor; process until finely chopped.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, coriander, cardamom and salt; mix well.

 

In large bowl, beat sugar, butter and lemon peel at medium speed until light, fluffy and well blended. Add eggs, lemon juice, corn syrup and vanilla; beat until blended (mixture may look curdled).

 

Gradually beat half of flour mixture into egg mixture just until well blended. Beat in remaining flour mixture until blended. Stir in cranberry mixture until evenly distributed.

 

At this point, I put the dough in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to give us both a rest. The chilled dough was much easier to work with.

Divide dough in half. Roll 1 half on large sheet of plastic wrap; shape into 15×1 3/4-inch log. Since the dough was chilled, I didn’t need to use plastic wrap.  I just rolled it out on the counter.

 

Remove plastic wrap and place on baking sheet; repeat with remaining half of dough, arranging logs as far apart as possible on baking sheet.

 

Press down logs to 3/4-inch thickness.

 

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until well browned and slightly cracked. Place parchment paper and logs on wire rack; cool 20 to 30 minutes. Keep oven at 350ºF.

 

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer logs to cutting board. With serrated knife, cut diagonally into scant 1/2-inch-thick slices. Lay slices cut side down on baking sheets.

 

Return to oven; bake 16 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once. Remove from baking sheets; cool on wire racks.

Line 2 baking sheets with foil. I used waxed paper for this part.

In large, shallow microwave-safe bowl, combine white chocolate and shortening; microwave on medium 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds until chocolate is almost melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Dip top edge of each biscotti in melted chocolate; place on baking sheets.

 

Let stand 10 to 20 minutes, or until chocolate is set. Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.  That is, if they last that long.  They’re really good!

 

 

Nutrition (per cookie): 110 calories, 3.5 g total fat (2 g saturated fat), 1.5 g protein, 19 g carbohydrate, 15 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, .5 g fiber

 

Thanks for joining us in the Bread Experience bread-baking blog.  We hope you’ll join us again soon.

Happy Holidays!

Cathy

 

Mellow Bakers was started by Paul at Yumarama.
We’re baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.