Raisin and Walnut Biscotti

Biscotti is Italian and literally means twice baked, this is how you get their dry, crisp texture.  Biscotti is traditionally served with a cup of coffee or tea.  Some people like dipping it into hot chocolate, no matter how you like to eat them, they can be found  in all sorts of flavors.

Ingredients:

120g 120g 2 1 tsp 220g 1 tsp ¼ tsp 75g 120g 1

Unsalted butter, melted Sugar Eggs Vanilla extract All purpose flour Baking powder Salt Raisins Walnuts, chopped Egg white, lightly beaten (for brushing)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350◦F.
• Beat melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixer bowl.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt, stir until just combined.
• Add in walnuts and raisins, stir well to combine.

Form mixture into a log or divide mixture into two smaller logs.

• Place on a lined baking tray and brush with egg white.
• Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until light golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
• Place the log on the cutting board, using a sharp knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2-inch thick slices.  Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.  Return biscotti to the oven and bake until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

• Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.

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• Traditional Cranberry Biscotti (gastronomiette.wordpress.com)

Spritz (Norwegian Butter Cookies)

These Norwegian cookies are typically made with a cookie press.  The cookie press comes with a variety of discs to make various shapes of cookies and children love to help make them.  Spritz are crisp, fragile and buttery tasting, great for Christmas goodies.  Your Christmas holiday cookie plate won’t be complete without these cookies!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350◦F .
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat together butter, sugar and extracts in a large mixing bowl at moderately high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add egg and beat well.  Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.
5. Quarter dough and put 1 piece into cookie press.  Holding press slightly above ungreased baking sheets, squeeze out dough to form cookies (follow manufacturer’s instructions).  Form more cookies with remaining dough in same manner.  (see picture below)
6. Freeze shaped cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking.
7. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are golden, 10 to 15 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool.

I added sprinkles to make the cookies more festive.

Notes:

If you don’t have a cookie press, you can flatten dough to 1/3 to ½ inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter.  Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.

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• Day 9: Butter Cookies, A Variety that You can Rely on (loavesandstitches.wordpress.com)

Mexican Wedding Cookies

It has been a while since I last posted a recipe.  With Christmas approaching, all the Christmas songs and decorations reminded me tis is the season for baking.  Winter holidays are definately the time for sugar.  Every year, about one week before Christmas, my co-workers always bring in their delicious homemade goodies so I like to walk around and sample all of them.  These Mexican wedding cookies are one of my favorites – they are simply delicious and good as a gift for friends, neighbours and relatives.

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) ½ cup 1½ cups 1 tsp 2 ¼ cups ¾ cup ¾ tsp

Unsalted butter, softened Confectioners sugar Confectioners sugar (for rolling only) Vanilla extract All-purpose flour Very finely chopped pecans Salt

Directions:

1. Finely chopped pecans and set aside.  (picture 1)
2. Beat together butter and ½ cup confectioners sugar in an electric mixer at moderately high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  (picture 2)
3. Beat in vanilla extract, then add in flour and salt (picture 3).
4. Add chopped pecans, mix everything at low speed until just combined (picture 4).  Covered and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 375 ◦F.
6. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, roll level teaspoons of dough into ¾ – inch balls and arrange about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.  I shaped cookie dough into a ball and a moon shape.  (picture 5)
7. Sift remaining 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar into a large shallow bowl, set aside.
8. Bake in batches in middle of oven until bottom are pale golden, about 10 minutes.  Immediately transfer hot cookies to confectioners sugar, gently rolling to coat well, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
9. Roll cookies in confectioners sugar again when cooled.

Note:

Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.

I received this snowman container from my neighbour, it has three tiers.  I put butter cookies in the first tier, Mexican wedding cookies in the second tier and Biscotti in the third tier.  Isn’t it cute?

Recipe for Spritz (Norwegian Butter Cookies) is here and recipe for Raisin Walnut Biscotti is here.  Happy baking!!

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• Mexican Wedding Cookies Recipe (kraftrecipes.com)