New Year’s Eve progressive dinner–dessert course
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Posted by
Christoarpher
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31 December 2014
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This is a biscotti recipe from everyone’s favorite coffee house just off the CalPac campus. Remy Babcock, who just matriculated at CalPac last fall, can’t seem to eat enough of them. But since you won’t meet him until January 8 and when you do, he’ll still be in high school, I’m getting ahead of myself…
Stained-Glass Biscotti
I call it “stained glass” because you can put virtually any dried fruit in it and it will turn out to be both colorful and delicious.
½ C butter, softened—the recipe says you can margarine, but that’s one of the vain and empty works of the devil, so please don’t
2 C sugar
4 large eggs
1.5 tsp grated lemon rind
½ tsp vanilla extract—for the love of all that’s holy, use real vanilla, not the fake stuff
¼ almond extract—ditto
5 C flour—I like unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt—your call. It’s not a custard or a yeast bread so the salt’s not mandatory, but some baked goods taste funny without a tiny bit of salt.
¾ C dried cranberries
¾ C dried cherries (can be hard to find but cherry-flavored cranberries don’t cut it. Costco sells dried cherries)
½ C candied orange rind (I hate candied orange rind, so I’ve used chopped, pitted dates, golden raisins, or chopped, dried apricots at various times. Dried blueberries would look and taste good, too. White chocolate morsels are a wonderful substitution, as well.)
¾ C whole blanched or slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
Poz
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Stained-Glass Biscotti
I call it “stained glass” because you can put virtually any dried fruit in it and it will turn out to be both colorful and delicious.
½ C butter, softened—the recipe says you can margarine, but that’s one of the vain and empty works of the devil, so please don’t
2 C sugar
4 large eggs
1.5 tsp grated lemon rind
½ tsp vanilla extract—for the love of all that’s holy, use real vanilla, not the fake stuff
¼ almond extract—ditto
5 C flour—I like unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt—your call. It’s not a custard or a yeast bread so the salt’s not mandatory, but some baked goods taste funny without a tiny bit of salt.
¾ C dried cranberries
¾ C dried cherries (can be hard to find but cherry-flavored cranberries don’t cut it. Costco sells dried cherries)
½ C candied orange rind (I hate candied orange rind, so I’ve used chopped, pitted dates, golden raisins, or chopped, dried apricots at various times. Dried blueberries would look and taste good, too. White chocolate morsels are a wonderful substitution, as well.)
¾ C whole blanched or slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
- Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a team, beating mixture after each addition. Add grated lemon rind and flavorings, mixing well.
- Mix cranberries, cherries, whatever substitution you choose for candied orange rind, and almonds in a bowl.
- Combine flour and next three ingredients in a bowl; add to butter mixture, beating only until dry ingredients are moistened.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; flour or better yet, oil hands with cooking oil and kneed dough to finish mixing; kneed the dried fruit mixture in.
- Divide dough in half; shape each half into a 14 x 2-inch log on a lightly greased cookie sheet (a silicone baking mat works well, too). Flatten each log slightly.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cut each log diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices with a serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion to prevent the biscuit from ripping.
- Toast at 325 degrees for ten minutes; turn biscuits over and toast for an additional ten minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- If you don’t like food that fights back, skip the toasting and go right to enjoying the biscotti with a beverage of your choice.
Poz
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