My girlfriend and I always have a bake day the week before the holidays. We always try to make a few cookie recipes together. It’s a great way to spend time with family and friends during the busy season and get some baking done. Biscotti's for us are a must. We often do a holiday themed ones with cranberries, chocolate and pistachios. My husband and I not only love cookies, but we love cookies with our coffee. He loves cardamom flavored anything and I love almonds and figs hence my site name so I made a new change to our holiday favorite, almond and fig biscotti's. They were so good and super easy to make. Biscotti could sound intimidating but baking the cookies twice is just an extra step to get the cookies to the crispness they are known for. They are our favorite coffee dunking cookies.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 1/2 tsp cardamom 1/2 tsp cardamom extract if you don’t have it just add a tsp of pure vanilla 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped 1 cup dried figs roughly chopped 6 ounces good-quality white chocolate
Directions
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. • Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone pad. Whisk the dry ingredients: flour and baking powder, and cardamom in a medium bowl to blend. In your electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, orange zest, vanilla or cardamom extract and salt until combined. Add in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Add the dry (flour mixture) to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the almonds and figs. The mixture will be thick and sticky.
• Tip: wet your hands In warm water to help form the dough into a 13-inch long, 3-inch wide log on the silicon lined baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 40 minutes. Cool completely 30 minutes to an hour.
• Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 1/2 to 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti again until they are pale golden, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely. • Stir the white chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. you can either dip half of the biscotti into the melted chocolate or a gentle drizzle all over the top. You can sprinkle with more almonds to garnish. Let the chocolate set on the cookies before you store them.
• Notes: The biscotti can be stored in an airtight container up to a week or even two if they are stored well. They make a perfect gift with a bag of awesome coffee.
