Food Gifts {Biscotti}

Thursday, December 12, 2013

So this year I decided to not go through the mayhem of a million different types of Christmas cookies. {Ok, a slight exaggeration there on the million.}  I am just doing biscotti for gifts.  Here are some recipes that I have tried or want to try in the future...
Chocolate Biscotti

Chocolate Biscotti
I have found the dough to be hard to deal with when it comes to chocolate and biscotti.  I liked this recipe from Mama's Gotta Bake the best.  I actually made chocolate peppermint biscotti with her recipe by omitting the nuts and adding a 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract.  I plan to dip these in white chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
  

Nonna's Biscotti recipe
Vanilla Almond Biscotti 
Love this biscotti!!!  Here is the recipe.
Almond Orange Biscotti
Another great recipe.  I love the flavor of almond especially around Christmas.

Recipes to Try
I haven't tried these yet, but plan to in the future.  I really wanted to get to the gingerbread one last weekend, but I was on baking overload and needed to stop!
Tips for Making Biscotti
-Select recipes with at least a little bit of fat (normally butter) as they are easier to slice
-Refrigerate or put the dough in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes if it is too gooey to shape.

-I tried two different chocolate biscotti and found that both the doughs were hard to deal with when shaping.  The one recipe I have posted above was the better one.  Once you get the logs shaped the biscotti turns out beautifully.
-Be patient during the cooling of the "log" before slicing. Makes slicing easier. 

-Biscotti keeps well. Freeze it early in December and then you can take it out closer to gift giving time and dip in chocolate if you desire.


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