…and walnuts. 🙂
Welcome to my official entry in the Foodie Blogroll/Marx Foods IRON FOODIE CONTEST!
This afternoon the kitchen became a whirlwind of grating and chopping and mixing and finger-licking. (Don’t worry…I washed my hands.) For two weeks now, I’ve been looking forward to this culinary experiment.
As you may remember, the three ingredients I chose for this contest recipe are:
- Madagascar Vanilla Beans
- Tellicherry Peppercorns
- Maple Sugar
Before the eight secret Marx Foods ingredients even arrived at my door, I knew I wanted my signature dish to be something sweet. Something baked. Something unique and absolutely exquisite.
And something Christmas-y.
Biscotti are oblong, thick, brittle cookies designed to be dipped in coffee, cocoa, or wine. Originally from Italy, "biscotti" translates as "twice baked" because the cookies must be baked long enough to make them dry and crunchy. Although traditionally almond flavored to complement dunks in a glass of red wine, now biscotti have multiplied with exotic flavors and creative additives.
The first biscotti emerged from an Italian countryside full of vineyards. They used abundant almonds to flavor a cookie that was so dry and crunchy, it wasn’t apt to turn stale before they could dip in it wine. Soon, other European countries adapted the twice-baked recipes to their own favorite spices and special ingredients. Recently, the increase in popularity of coffee drinks has spurred the proliferation of many new kinds of biscotti. A dunk in a warm beverage softens the cookie and makes it easier to chew.
A few years ago, as a result of a fit of mild baking insanity, I made about a dozen batches of biscotti in various flavors. And I fell in love. (Well, with all but one flavor. The apricot-white chocolate ones tasted like something akin to Play-Doh.)
If you’ve never tried your hand at homemade biscotti before, I challenge you do so this holiday season. It’s really very easy. And VERY gratifying.
Perhaps you could start with this recipe:
SPICY GINGERBREAD BISCOTTI WITH
MAPLE DRIZZLE
2 Tbs + 2 tsp natural applesauce
1/2 c sucanat
1-1/2 eggs
2 Tbs molasses
1 c + 2 Tbs whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 white flour
seeds of 1 whole vanilla bean (3/4 tsp)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2-1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 c walnuts, diced
* Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.
* In large bowl, mix together applesauce, sucanat, eggs and molasses. In another bowl, combine flours, vanilla seeds, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. Mix into applesauce mixture to form a stiff, sticky dough. Fold in walnuts.
* Shape dough into a roll the length of the biscotti. Sprinkle with small amount of sucanat. Place roll on cookie sheet and pat down to flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.
* Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
* When cool, cut into diagonal slices. Place slices on cookie sheet and bake another 6 minutes on each side. Let cool.
MAPLE DRIZZLE
1-1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c powdered maple sugar
2 Tbs milk
* Place granulated maple sugar in blender, food processor or Magic Bullet until powdered.
* Combine all ingredients and drizzle over cooled biscotti.
Can I just tell you – this is THE best biscotti I’ve ever had.
I’m not gonna lie to ya – I was NERVOUS. This was a true experiment, and with experiments you never know exactly what the end result will be. In this case, I am pleased as punch!
It’s perfectly crispy on the outside and delightfully dense/chewy in the middle. The maple drizzle provides just the right amount of sweetness to complement the spiciness of the cookie. This biscotti will kick your beloved coffee time up a BIG notch.
I used healthier ingredients than a basic recipe would call for, so you can indulge without feeling like you need to go three extra miles on the treadmill the next day. Healthy + divinely delicious = Almost too good to be true!!!
Oh wait, did you want to see pictures?
I thought so. 🙂
My audience:
I love sucanat and don’t know what I did without it before discovering it just a few months ago.
Molasses is another favorite baking ingredient.
Here lies a whole vanilla bean.
I’ve never sliced open a vanilla bean before.
My heart is pounding and the hand that’s holding the knife is trembling.
Scalpel, please.
That, my friends, is what vanilla seeds look like inside the bean. Fasssscinating, isn’t it?!
Mostly whole wheat pastry flour and some regular white flour.
I do not own a peppermill, so I used the next best thing to grind up these adorable little wrinkly peppercorns.
It’s…. magic! Once it was ground, this pepper had the most wonderful, pungent aroma. Definitely exactly what these biscotti needed to give them a fun little spicy kick.
The dough was stick and thicky. Oops. You know what I meant. ;-)
First baking: done. Scent permeating the whole main floor of the house: UNDESCRIBABLE.
All sliced and ready for their second baking.
After second baking.
At this point I was like, “This recipe is turning out WAY too good. Something will probably go wrong with the icing.”
Wrong.
The secret to the maple drizzle icing is to pulse the maple sugar crystals in the Bullet until they become powdery.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Mix it with the regular powdered sugar.
Add milk little bit by little bit…. and it turns the loveliest shade of light tan from the maple sugar.
Drizzle it on and you’re done! See how easy that was?!
Yes, it is every bit as amazing as it looks.
A great big hug and “THANK YOU” to Foodie Blogroll and Marx Foods for allowing me the privilege of being one of 25 amazing challengers in this contest! It has been a blast. Not only that, I now have an original recipe that will hopefully be in my recipe box for years and years to come.
A great big hug and “THANK YOU” to my precious readers, too! YOU are the reason this little ol’ blog exists and I love ya dearly!
Happy Christmastime!
I get a kick out of reading your blog..
You’re totally going to win. That recipe is amazing — plus it’s healthy AND gorgeous AND holiday appropriate.
Congratulations on a job very, very well done!
Wendy – do you think that the Tellicherry Peppercorns help bring out the flavors where regular black pepper doesn’t quite as much? I know that different peppers give different results and I’ve never used the Tellicherry. I’d love to hear your idea!
Sounds great, will have to come have coffee with u sometime!
Wendy this looks sooooo good. Good job and good luck!!!
Is there anything the Magic Bullet can’t do? 🙂
The biscotti looks very good. You are very creative with baking and cooking. I would never have the patience to experiment with baking !
I hope you win the contest! 🙂
Awesome job! When do you find out the winner?
I’ve never eaten a biscotti that I liked…sorry, just not a fan however, your biscotti look delightful! YUM! I’m a big fan of tellicherry peppercorns and the maple sugar is the bomb! Great and ingenious use of the Marx Food goodies! Best of luck in the competition! Stop by my blog to see my entry!
I love biscotti! What a beautiful presentation of your ingredients, and the finished dish-this sounds wonderful!
(Hi from a fellow contestant!)
Wow, these biscotti are wonderful! I can imagine how spicy and fragrant they must be! Thank you so much for your participation and best of luck in the polls!
These look great! I like how you used the pepper with your sweet biscotti. 🙂
Of all the recipes I looked at…YOU get my vote! I think this is a fun application of what we were asked to do, and you fulfilled ALL the elements with grace and class! Bravo!!!
Wow!
This is simply marvelous!
I’m both drooling and envious 😛
I must try this recipe at home :)))
Thank you,
Itai Matos (TFIM)
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