Never Fail Biscotti - My Christmas gift to you....

Never Fail Biscotti



Christmas Spice with cranberry, orange, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate

So, this is my Christmas gift to you all, my biscotti recipe, it truly is a never fail recipe and is so versatile & delicious. It's also dairy free.

The word biscotti originates from medieval Latin and translates as twice baked, which is exactly what this is, a twice baked, hard, crunchy biscuit. Perfect for dunking in your coffee after a meal or in your hot chocolate!

It's also an excellent gift as it last so well, you can make it way in advance, pop it in a bag (ensuring it's airtight) tie it with a bow and Ta-Dah! Instant pressie!

It’s highly versatile flavour wise, and the sky is the limit with flavour combinations. You'll see a few of my favourite flavours scattered through this post....

So, go on.....Bake It!!!!



Cinnamon Sugar, half dunked in milk chocolate

Ingredients

· 250g plain flour

· 250g caster sugar

· 1 ½ tsp baking powder

· 3 eggs

· Up to 375g of filling of your choice, nuts, choc chips, dried fruit, spices etc, chop the dried fruit quite finely.

· Zest 1 lemon (optional depending on your filling ingredients)

· Caster sugar for sprinkling

Cashew & Chocolate

Method

Whisk eggs and sugar together till a little frothy

Add flour & baking powder & mix, finally add nuts etc and stir until combined.

Now, it is a very wet mix but trust me here, line 2 trays with parchment and lay 2 thick sausages of mixture on both trays – the easiest way to do it is to scoop the mixture from the bowl with wet hands.....

Sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake at 180c for 25-30 mins till golden brown.

Remove from oven, slice into 1-1.5cms slices, lay the slices on their sides and put back in oven for 10-12min.

Remove from the oven, and trnasfer to a cooling rack, the biscotti will harden up as it cools.

The biscotti will keep well in an airtight container/tin/box/bag for up to 4 weeks, fruit ones slightly shorter.

 Enjoy!



Pistachio, cashew, cherry



Double Peanut & Chocolate Cookies

Double Peanut & Chocolate cookies

These cookies are deliciously sweet & nutty with a hint of salt, crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle just like a cookie should be.

Makes approx 20 cookies

Ingredients

115g soft unsalted butter

125g crunchy peanut butter
140g light muscavado sugar
1 large egg, beaten
½ tsp vanilla extract
225g self raising flour
100g good quality chocolate of your choice chopped into chunks (I chose a Green & Black’s bar with almonds for even more nuttiness)
150g roasted salted peanuts

·         Preheat the oven to 180c & lightly grease, or line with parchment several baking trays.

·         Put all the ingredient, except the peanuts into a bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon,  or you can throw it all into your mixer for a minute if you have one, until you have a well combined and formed dough

·         Sprinkle the peanuts into a shallow dish

·         Take ‘ferrero rocher’ sized ball of dough, roll into balls and then gently press them into the peanuts, so you get a nice coating on each ball.

·         Arrange well spaced out on the baking trays (peanut side up)

·         Bake for 15mins until light golden brown

·         Leave to cool on the trays for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

·         Enjoy!

·         These will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days or can be frozen for up to a month.