Category: Desserts

Will there be cake? 

I have asked this question each year when my birthday rolls around, for some time. But tbh, when my mom came to an age and stage where she no longer could bake my birthday cake, I caved on it. Somehow baking one’s own birthday cake seemed a bit odd. I also thought that the birthday cake I counted on was simply too much work…

The birthday cake was a big double layer white coconut cake with fluffy white frosting. Originally, Mom grated fresh coconut to fold into the batter and sprinkle atop the frosting. Which, as I remember, was quite an effort. Eventually she developed a shortcut; dried shredded coconut, soaked in water to moisten and remove most of the added sugar from the fruit. It was a luscious birthday cake, one which I anticipated every year. 

But this year I remembered another cake that Mom served whenever an easy quickly made cake seemed in order. The recipe came off the back of the Bisquick box. The very fact that Mom kept a box of Bisquick baking mix in the pantry was a miracle; the cake was the only baked good I remember her using it for. Her actual biscuits were scratch made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ. The baking mix cake was a simple yellow cake, but had a brown sugar, coconut and pecan topping, which was popped under the broiler til it browned and bubbled. If you happen to be of quite advanced middle age like me, you might remember the Bisquick Velvet Crumb Cake. 

So I decided that after all these years, at this year’s birthday- there would be coconut cake. Tradition would be tossed out the window though, since I was baking this thing for just me and my husband. No, the big cake would be morphing into an easy single layer coconut cake with that delicious coconut brown sugar topping. Too bad I didn’t come to this conclusion many years ago; it would have saved Mom a great deal of work…

Given the sweet broiled topping, I could reduce the typical amount of sugar in the cake. I helped myself to Mom’s trick, first lightly toasting the dried coconut to deepen the flavor.  Unsweetened shredded dried coconut is the norm in my kitchen today, soaked luxuriously in light coconut milk before going into the batter. Coconut oil eliminated the need for creaming and mixed up quickly with eggs, coconut flavored yogurt and a touch of rum. A combo of whole wheat pastry and almond flours provided a fluffy, delicate crumb. And the broiled topping took about five minutes. The cake was terrific, chock full of coconut flavor with a fine, delicate texture and sweet crunchy topping. The icing on the cake? The leftover slices freeze beautifully. 

Changing up treasured tradition is a hard sell for most of us. I probably shouldn’t have waited so long to try. But since I did, I’m pretty pumped that it worked out this well. Yes, there was cake. And in its own way, just as delicious as I remember. 

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Coconut Cake with Broiled Brown Sugar Topping

Single layer coconut cake with fine, delicate crumb and crisp brown sugar coconut topping.

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: coconut

Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup fine almond flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup coconut flavored yogurt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 1 tbsp rum

Topping

• 2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp cream I used plant based creamer
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch round pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle. 

  Place the coconut in a small skillet over medium heat and toast to a light golden brown, stirring frequently. Pout the coconut into a small bowl and mix in the coconut milk. Set aside to soak while prepping the remaining ingredients. 

  In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder and salt. 

  In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and oil until well combined and frothy. Stir in the yogurt, extracts and rum. Alternately stir in the soaked coconut mixture with the dry ingredients until no streaks remain, but don’t over mix. 

  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan until ready for the topping. 

Topping

• Stir the topping ingredients together and spread evenly over the top of the cake, all the way to the pan edges. Broil approximately three inches from the heat til bubbly and brown, approximately three to five minutes. 

Notes

• Nutrition Facts
• Total fat: 24.7 g. 
• Saturated fat: 14 g
• Cholesterol: 41 mg
• Sodium: 161 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 26 g
• Fiber 3.7 g
• Sugar: 13.5 g
• Protein: 6.1 g

You can take the girl off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl… 

Pumpkin spice has made a valiant effort to convince folks that it is the harbinger of autumn. But the farm girl in me knows better, because autumn is all about the apples. I thoroughly enjoyed a recent trip back to the old southwestern Ohio hometown, including a stop at Fulton Farms, a local farm and market operation. The produce specialties through the summer here are luscious strawberries and right-off-the-stalk sweet corn, but it’s September now and it’s all about the apples.  

Apples have played a significant role in farm communities through many generations. I would wager that on the farm, we ate more apples than any other fruit because they “keep” for some time in their fresh form, and can be preserved in so many additional forms. Mom’s freezer applesauce was a staple in our meals throughout the winter. Apples can be canned or dried for longer storage and rehydrated for compotes, smoothies and baking.  They can also be pressed into delicious fresh cider. One just might let the cider “turn” a bit for a tangy hit of hard cider. One of the ways that midwestern farm kids get early access to the booze! Maybe this was the start of my penchant for adding a touch of liquor to my recipes-and yes, today’s recipe is no exception…

Many varieties were on display that day at the farm market, so many that it was tough to make a choice. But choose I did, and munching on them for breakfast brought to mind my recipe for sautéed apple slices. This is one of my quick and easy desserts, making an appearance without the need for planning and/or shopping in advance. I usually have a few apples in my hydrator drawers, and the cooking takes just minutes. The thinly sliced apples are sautéed in butter and brown sugar for sweet richness, then spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. A touch of bourbon deepens the flavor and a small hit of white miso tempers the sweetness. I find it reminiscent of apple pie without the pastry. My taste buds might whine a bit about that, but my waistline is appreciative. Should my need for pastry be desperate, I can always tuck in several of my mini almond shortbread. More typically, we top the apple saute with a dollop of plain yogurt sweetened with honey. 

You needn’t have been raised on a Midwestern farm to enjoy the delicious diversity of apples. No matter your locale, you can bypass the pumpkin spice drive through and  head home with a couple of apples for a quick dessert of sautéed apple slices.  

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Sautéed Apple Slices

Buttery saute of apples with brown sugar, currants and autumn spices.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apples, cinnamon

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large apples I use Fuji
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp bourbon can substitute apple juice
• 1 tsp white miso
• 3 tbsp currants can substitute raisins
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

• Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and spices. Add the apple slices and stir to coat. Stir in the bourbon, miso and currants. Reduce heat to simmer, cover skillet and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until apples are tender. If there is more juice than desired, turn up the heat to reduce. Stir in the vanilla and walnuts, remove from the heat and serve.

Notes

• Nutrition Facts
• Calories: 159
• Total Fat: 7.8 g
• Saturated Fat: 2.1 g
• Cholesterol: 8 mg
• Sodium: 75 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 20.7g
• Fiber: 3.8 g
• Total sugars: 15.3 g
• Protein: 2.5 g

“What do you think of when you hear the word dessert? Does your mind automatically go to ice cream, cookies, pies, or other decadent treats?… Let’s reset our thinking and consider fresh fruit — served without any preparation or garnishes — as dessert, shall we?”

https://www.thekitchn.com/in-defense-of-fruit-for-dessert-221163

Christine Gallery

Health minded folks have tried to hawk this concept to the American public for years…upon years…

Please note that the author of this piece was raised in a culture that did not include many sweets other than fresh fruit. I, on the other hand, was raised in a midwestern farm culture where high quality fresh fruit was relatively sparse, while ice cream, cookies, pies and other decadent treats were around in abundance. The particular abundance on the farm leaned toward dairy and egg based desserts such as custards, bread pudding, trifle and cream puffs… 

My first exposure to fresh fruit as dessert was at Schiavone’s, a local Italian fine dining restaurant. After you had stuffed yourself with whatever rich Italian-American dish you’d ordered, a platter of fresh fruit appeared. As I recall, though, that platter also held nutmeats and slices of delicious cheese, the requisite fats needed to fulfill the potential of all that fresh fruit! Which is pretty much where I am at today. Yes, a dish of fresh figs is amazing, when tossed with goat cheese crumbles and pistachios, then drizzled with honey. Super sweet dates are luscious, split open and stuffed with almond butter and chocolate chips. And the list goes on. Is it fresh fruit? Yes, but accompanied by sweet and fatty friends. 

It just needs a little something- a bit of sweetness, a bit of richness, a hit of acidity. Whatever, you can fill in the blank for your own taste preferences. Today I’m filling in the blank with a hint of honey, a touch of fat, spices and balsamic vinegar. All mixed into the fruit before it roasts in the oven for just a few minutes, softening it and bringing out all the caramel notes that fresh fruit desperately tries to keep hidden. The roasted fruit is sometimes a dessert all on its own, but I often nestle in a few tiny almond shortbreads, cut out using Mom’s container of miniature cookie cutters. 

The roasting technique is versatile, working well with whatever seasonal fruit one might have. Summer fruits like berries, peaches, cherries and figs? Check. Fall and winter fruits like grapes, pears, apples? Check. I sometimes add chopped nuts into the mix to be roasted, other times the finished fruit might be topped with a nut cream, or whipped cream. Or it might be just plain roasted fruit. The shortbreads freeze well and are easy to grab from the freezer to enrich the fruit when one so chooses.

My conclusion is that for this time in my dietary life, fruit-as-dessert is not ready for a solo gig. I could get there, it is possible, but how likely is that? People only live so long, y’know? 

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Roast Fruit with Mini Almond Shortbread

A dish of lightly caramelized roasted fruit, enriched with tiny almond shortbread cutouts.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almond, fruit, shortbread

Servings: 4

Calories: 196kcal

Ingredients

Roasted Fruit

• 3 cups fresh fruit, peeled as needed
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp neutral oil (I use avocado oil)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 pinch ground cloves

Mini Almond Shortbread

• 1 tsp flax meal
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 3 tbsp white whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 2 drops almond extract
• 1 1/2 tsp milk of choice

Instructions

Roasted fruit

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Cut the fruit into pieces appropriate to the fruit being used, generally 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces.
• Toss with remaining ingredients and spread out in a greased baking dish. Roast in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until juices are released and fruit is tender and starting to caramelize. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Mini Almond Shortbread

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease lightly.
• In a small cup, mix the flax meal with 2 teaspoons of water and set aside to gel.
• Combine the flours, sugar, salt and baking powder in a small mixing bowl. Stir in the oil, extract and vinegar or milk. Mix to a soft dough. Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut with small shaped cutters or into 1/2-inch squares. Place cut outs onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, til set ad lightly browned on the bottom.

To Serve

• Toasted chopped nuts (optional)

  Whipped cream/cashew cream (optional)

  To serve, spoon the roasted fruit into serving dishes. Tuck 4 mini shortbreads into the serving of fruit. Top with desired garnish, if desired. 

Notes

• Total Fat: 10.4 g
•     Sat Fat: 1.2 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0
• Sodium: 2 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 25.4 g
•      Fiber. 2.7 g
•      Added sugars. 16.8 g
• Protein: 3.1 g

I have an uncanny memory for the source and location of recipes. Not a skill set that will ever make me rich, I suspect, but handy in the kitchen, given that I easily own at least one hundred cookbooks plus magazines, notebook, recipe box. Let’s see… Is it in the recipe box? A particular cookbook? A magazine? It’s rather like a database in my head. It doesn’t help much, however, when one remembers that the desired recipe is in a small, worn and tattered paperback that belonged to one’s mother-in-law, when the cookbook no longer sits on the shelf. Abruizzi Black Cake was the only recipe we made from this particular volume, and when the book fell apart, it was discarded. Probably. This happened long enough ago that I don’t really have a clue what happened to it, to be honest. 

Would the internet come to my rescue, yet again? Keying in “Abruizzi Black Cake,” the first hit was for a web service entitled Eat Your Books. (https://www.eatyourbooks.com) An organized  place where one can document their collection of cookbooks online, then search digitally by recipe, ingredient, etc. Which I never knew I needed, given my uncanny memory for exactly the same thing. On the site, I could see just enough to know that the recipe came from The Home Book of Italian Cooking, (https://www.amazon.com/Mama-Mia-Italian-Cookbook-Cooking/dp/0883652161 and contained hazelnuts, chocolate and pantry ingredients. And yes, I already knew that much. But given that I no longer had the book, the remainder of the recipe would remain a mystery for the ages. Unless I wanted to hunt the book down and order it. Which I didn’t, because really, all I wanted to do was bake a cake… 

Never one to admit defeat, I simply made a cake. I mostly remember that we had made this cake for company, it included hazelnuts and dark chocolate and was well liked by all. I suspect the cake I turned out is not remotely like the original, which I recall as being richer and denser. Given the title, it probably had considerably more chocolate, melted and mixed throughout the batter. It was probably made with butter… but as long as I was starting from scratch, so to speak, I may as well make it with my preferred olive oil. My version is also lightened with well beaten eggs, minimal sugar and applesauce substituted for part of the oil. 

My cake, now renamed Abruzzi Hazelnut Chocolate Cake, turned out to be light, moist and delicious, redolent with the richness of nuts and the slight bitterness of dark chocolate. The top is drizzled with chocolate glaze, a riff on a recipe from www.food.com. (https://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-glaze-that-hardens-when-cool-155392) Topped with a sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts, it is a beautiful cake.  Quick and easy to make, with a better nutrition profile, too. Slices are wrapped and nestled into my freezer, waiting to be the night’s dessert. Maybe at some point I’ll change my mind on ordering the paperback, but for now I’m making this cake when I crave that yummy Italian Nutella flavor combo.

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Abruzzi Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Light yet rich hazelnut chocolate cake, glazed with chocolate and sprinkled with hazelnuts.

Prep Time35 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: cake, chocolate, hazelnut

Servings: 10

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, ground to meal consistency
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 1/2 oz dark chocolate, shaved

Glaze

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 121/2 to 3 tbsp hot water

Garnish

• 2 tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.
• Combine the eggs and sugar in mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the olive oil, applesauce, and vanilla. 
• Combine the flours, hazelnuts, baking powder, and salt. Using low speed, add gradually to the mixer bowl alternately with the almond milk to make a well mixed batter. Fold in the shaved chocolate by hand, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a cooling rack. When cake is cool, run a table knife around the edge, then turn the cake out onto a serving plate.
• Mix the confectioner’s sugar with the cocoa powder. Stir in the coconut oil and vanilla. Slowly stir in the hot water until a pourable consistency is reached. Drizzle over the cake in a decorative pattern, then sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts. 

Okay. I hate messing with family recipes that are so unhealthy they show little potential for redemption. Whatever might that recipe be, you ask. “Sugar Pie” is pretty self-explanatory, wouldn’t you think? This pie basically consists of a sugar/flour/butter mixture with vanilla cream poured atop, then baked until set, but still richly creamy. A bit like the filling of a nut pie, just without the nuts. I gather that Mom justified the whole thing on her practice of substituting evaporated milk for the cream, since that would somewhat cut the fat. Like it needed more fat; it was basically streusel ensconced in fat laden piecrust… if only it wasn’t so damned delicious. Sigh.

Not only does it taste wonderful, it’s also a pie with great history. Also known as sugar cream pie, it has heritage with the Quakers, Shakers, Amish and even with the Quebecois. This pie definitely got around, though the state of Indiana claimed it in 2009 as its official state pie, renamed Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie. Supposedly the Amish and Shaker communities baking the pie were living in Indiana in the 1800s. How it got to Quebec is beyond me! (That version unsurprisingly uses maple syrup.) It does seem that the recipe might have originated just about anywhere, given that it was easily made with pantry staples and decidedly satisfied the sweet tooth. Yes, I suspect this innocent pie was probably at the root of more than a few cavities…

So all I really needed to do was cut the fat and sugar, right?? Problem is, that’s most of the pie… once done, the ingredient list is so short there’s no way for it to fill a piecrust. So-o-o, some substitutions were in order. Almond flour seemed a logical candidate to replace a major portion of the sugar, offering up a tasty balance of protein and healthier fat, while actually being a whole plant food. Cut both the butter and sugar by about two-thirds, bump up the flavor with spices and brandy, (you knew the booze would be in there somewhere) and finish it off with one’s choice of creamy milk product. While I tried lactose free half and half, options would include the aforementioned evaporated milk, light coconut milk and perhaps even oat milk. Getting a little carried away, I topped it with the blackberries I had in the fridge, and was amazed at what came out of the oven! Beautifully full and browned, with a lovely circular pattern of berries on top. Still rich in flavor, but lightly sweet with a moist crumbly texture and the tart sweetness of the fruit.

Was it anything like Mom’s sugar pie? Well, no, but this pie was something delectably new and different! Except it wasn’t, really. Delectable, yes. New and different? Uh…No. Somehow I later came to discover that I had actually baked an eggless French Frangipane tart, the British version being the Bakewell tart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frangipane

I concluded there were two ways to look at this. One way would be to credit myself with the creativity to reinvent the wheel. The other would be to admit that it takes a clueless American to be so unfamiliar with said ethnic baked treasures from other cultures. But I figure in the big picture, it hardly matters. An almond sugar cream pie is still a mighty fine pie. As to the sugar pie recipe? It’s still peeking at me accusingly from the recipe box. Back to the drawing board. 

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Sweet Almond Pie

Delicious almond pie, lightly sweet with a rich crumbly texture and flavor notes from spices and brandy.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: almond, pie

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp flour, heaped
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp anise seed
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 7/8 cup light ½ and ½  3/4 cup + plus 2 tablespoons
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 pint Blackberries, halved
• 1 8-inch prepared pie shell

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400° F. 
• Mix the flours, butter, sugar, anise seed and cinnamon to fine crumbs, using a pastry cutter or food processor. Reserve 2 tablespoons, and spread the remainder in the 8-inch pie shell. Stir together the ½ and ½, brandy and vanilla. Carefully pour the liquid mixture over the filling in the pie shell. Spread lightly to cover. Press the berry halves lightly into the filling. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top and bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F. and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, til set and lightly browned on top.
• Remove to a cooling rack and cool before slicing. 

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here making everything magical and shit.”http://www.Tinybeans.com

Memes like this one are popular in the month of December. While sarcastically comical, I’m going to suggest that they hold a great deal of truth. They usually imply that Mom is the production manager for the holiday, but I’d argue that it’s dads, too. On the farm, Daddy was annually elected to head out and find a tree, then schlep it home using clips and ropes to “magically” hold it on the top of the car. And while Mom was the tree-side director, it was still his job to climb up the tree and evenly disperse and attach the Christmas lights prior to all of us hanging bulbs, Ivory Soap “snow,” and tinsel. No small feat, that.

Mom was the indisputable producer of Christmas kitchen magic, though. While this encompassed a wide range of rich and delicious dishes, today I’m looking at you, Christmas cookies. And some of these masterpieces weren’t even for consumption. We spent a raucous evening each year decorating cutout sugar cookies to be hung on a small tabletop Christmas tree. The competition for best cookie decorator of the year was intense. When it came to the cookies that would be eaten, there might have been one or two standards, but Mom was always up for trying the year’s new holiday trends in cookie baking. As I peruse her/my recipe file, I see classics like butterscotch shortbread, buttery thumbprints, molasses butterballs, Mexican wedding cakes, etc. etc. There is a theme here and it’s all about the butter… which my mom most decidedly loved.

Given that I’m trying to improve my blood test results, my use of butter in this past year has plummeted by about 75%. So at least some of the cookie joy this year had to come from a butterless cookie. Cue the olive oil… again…

I’ve raved about the virtues of the Italian cookie before, so I’ll spare you. But the history! Something else entirely. Biscotti are the great great grandmother of all Italian cookies. The word means literally “twice baked.” Because they bake twice, they become dry and crisp, allowing them to be stored for periods of time. The idea dates back to the Roman legions, which carried a twice-baked bread, probably similar to today’s rusk, on their various conquests. The sweetened biscuit I’m sharing today, however, is much more like the almond biscuits originating in the Tuscan city of Prato. But we are still talking 14^th century. These crunchy little biscuits have been around for a while! Biscotti are sometimes baked using butter, sometimes with oil, and other times with no fat other than that included in the yolk of multiple eggs. But of course, I’m baking them with olive oil. 

This recipe makes a boatload of biscotti, which is fine by me, as they freeze beautifully and last a while. Prepared with all wheat flour they are more cookie like, made with part almond flour they are Italian to the core. The latter version produces crusty crunchy biscotti filled with little nooks and crannies. Some of those little spaces are filled with the fruit, nuts and chocolate. Pastry chefs might like to dip or coat their biscotti in melted chocolate, but let me think… do I need an additional task after I’ve baked these babies twice? No… I am just folding slivers of chocolate right into the dough. Once baked, these are my cookies of choice to dip into my daily post lunch cappuccino. Yes, I know; you can tell that retirement here is tough work. (Not.)

Given that it’s time for the New Year, you’ve most probably already overdosed on Christmas cookies; you may be preparing resolutions to rid yourself of this year’s accumulation, actually.  So clip/save this recipe for a time that you’d like to sit back and put your feet up with coffee and a cookie. That time will come ‘round before you know it. 

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Cranberry Walnut Chocolate Biscotti

Crunchy Italian twice baked cookie with dried fruit, nuts and chocolate

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: biscotti, chocolate, cranberry, walnut

Servings: 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp fiori di sicilia may substitute vanilla + 1 tsp orange zest
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or 1 1/4 cups flour + 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 oz dark chocolate, finely shaved

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a standard cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Macerate the cranberries in the Grand Marnier while preparing the dough.
• Pour the olive oil into the work bowl of a stand mixer. With the mixer running medium low, gradually add the sugar and beat til well mixed. Add the extract, then the eggs, one at a time. Beat til well mixed and fluffy.

   
• Combine the flour, salt and baking powder. With mixer at low speed, add gradually to the creamed mixture until soft dough forms. Mix in the cranberries, walnuts and slivers of shaved chocolate thoroughly. 
• Using half the dough, shape into 2 logs on the cookie sheet, each approximately 2 ½ inches wide, and 10 inches long. Bake the biscotti for 20-25 minutes, til the logs are firm and beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes. Use a spatula to maneuver the logs, one at a time onto a cutting board. Slice the logs on the diagonal, making slices about 3/8 inch wide. Return the individual slices to the baking sheet as you cut them. When both logs are sliced and on the cookie sheet, return the sheet to the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. 

   

Notes

Serving Size: 1 biscotti

Calories: 52

Total fat: 2.7 grams, .04 grams saturated

Total carb: 6 grams, .05 grams fiber, 4.1 grams added sugar

Protein: 1.1 grams