GINGERBREAD BISCOTTI

This week I am having a guest columnist Judy Vance Crume. Judy posted part of this recipe on Facebook and it sounds so good that I asked her to share it and write about it. Judy is a sister to a classmate of mine and have become acquainted with the about 4 years ago. What I know of this family talent runs deep. Judy is a potter extraordinaire, her sister Jill (my classmate is and artist/graphic designer) and Jany was a teacher, now retired and that can pretty much remodel anything. I’ve seen the pictures.

When will my life slow? Here I thought this was going to be a week to catch my breath and get semi caught up. WRONG. First of the month, you’d think by now I would have figured it out. Maybe there is still hope.

My first foray into biscotti making took place after reading a lightweight mystery whose main character was a caterer. It follows that the book contained several recipes, but I could ignore them. I just couldn’t let go of the idea of chocolate dipped biscotti. I had always bought it, and decided I might be able to make it. Her recipe was right in front of me (this was ahead of googling everything) and I had time on my hands.
Great success. I loved it, everybody loved it. It was the “go to” goodie for years at our house. Then I bought a container of gingerbread biscotti and a new goal was set, the bar was raised…..I tinkered with the ingredients and came up with this.

— Gingerbread Biscotti

Cream together 1 cup granulated sugar and a stick of butter

Add three large eggs, one at a time beating them into the sugar

add 1/2 cup of dark molasses

Add 1/4 cup of finely diced fresh ginger (You could use powdered ginger here, but I do not-1 1/4 Tablespoon is about right, though.)

Here comes the “wing it” part. I used to measure, but not so much now..

a bag of chopped macadamia nuts
a bag of dried cherries chopped some (this is a sticky chore, so I don’t invest much time in it)
a half bag of white chocolate chips

When that is blended well, my sifter is standing by with the dry ingredients already measured so I can just sift them in and go…

3 cups of flour
1/2 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice

I prefer to cover this and leave it overnight in the refrigerator, a minimum of three hours will work, though.
Separate this into four loaves–flat, approximately 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick (my results are bigger because I put so much more “stuff” but you get the idea) Two loaves diagonally on a heavy baking pan with room to grow —–bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, but this isn’t your first rodeo, you can tell by looking.
I don’t put both pans in at once, just treat them more like cookies.
When they are out of the oven long enough to be easily cut, cut them in diagonal sticks about 1 inch wide–creates long ones and short ones….
When they are all cut, and the oven is off, I turn them over onto a cut edge and put them back into the warm oven and let the residual heat dry them out…overnight makes them nice and dried, less time is a long cookie.

Options—to really zing your sweet tooth, melt a bag of white chocolate chips and carefully dip one side of the sticks, smoothed it with a table knife and let them dry. These will go away faster than un-iced ones, so I call the un-iced one’s diet biscotti. (wink)
Picture 1. Going into the oven.