Howdy blog fans!! Hoping you're all well and enjoying the festive season!! As always, I'm well into the Christmas spirit- as you can see from my very lovely hat!
I've been baking again, this time for my lovely colleagues at the wedding venue. I put a tin of this biscotti next to the kettle in the staff room and three days later it was all gone. Much as I love everyone there I'm looking to leave in the new year to get started on my career but I'll probably still go back on odd weekends to help out. I feel that they will definitely miss the stream of cakes and goodies I take in with me!!
So, biscotti!! Versatile little Italian biscuits that can be flavoured with any fruits, nuts, spices or even herbs! Go mad!! This is my favourite flavour combination for biscotti though.
You'll need:
280g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
250g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
50g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
50g chocolate chips
30g chopped hazelnuts
Zest of 1 orange
A few drops orange extract
For the dough, mix together the flour, baking powder and
sugar in a bowl and add the eggs to form the dough mixture.
Add the tepid chocolate and mix thoroughly before adding the
chocolate chips, nuts and the orange.
Knead the dough gently before forming into two logs and
placing on a lined baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes in a pre-heated 160oC oven
(don't use a fan oven).
Remove from the oven and slice the logs into 1 1/2cm slices.
Return the slices to the tray and bake for ten minutes. Then turn them over and
bake for another 10.
So there you go! A few words of warning though- if you decide to leave the melted chocolate out, decrease the flour to 250g or your dough will not bind. There are literally thousands of different flavours you could do- the only think I'd say is be wary of fresh fruit as they'll make the biscotti soggy and you want a lovely crunchy biscuit. Dried cranberries, pistachios and white chocolate is a lovely festive combo, or maybe almond and lemon. Get creative!! The basic dough will be a vessel for your creations!!
I'll be back soon with little sticky toffee puddings!
Merry Christmas bakers!!
