Gingerbread Biscotti

Oh, it's been a ridiculously long time! All I can say is, life. Here is a seasonal, absolutely delicious biscotti recipe. But no nicely posed shot of the biscotti with a steaming cup of tea. You are here for the recipes, right? Just like I keep telling myself: our guests are here for the food, not the housekeeping!

Dunking cookies are my favourite! My Dutch Oma taught me how to dunk cookies in coffee when I was just little, much to my mom's chagrin when her last gulp of coffee was full of cookie sludge! I found this recipe in a Fine Cooking magazine a few years ago and made a couple of minor changes. I substituted barley flour for the all-purpose and added a little cardamon to satisfy my Swedish heritage.

Gingerbread Biscotti

2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) barley flour or all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (4 ounces) dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup molasses
2 large eggs
zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350F/325F convection. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Grating nutmeg with a microplane zester

Chopping pecans

Helpers cutting up apricots.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix on low speed until combined. Add the chopped pecans and apricots and mix in.

In a 2 cup measure, combine the molasses, eggs and orange zest. Whisk to combine. While the mixer is on low speed add this mixture to the flour mixture in the mixing bowl. Continue mixing until the dough is blended and forms large clumps. The dough hook worked well for this stage of mixing because it is very thick.

Dump the dough onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal portions and form into logs about 1-1/2" in diameter. I made 3 logs because I prefer smaller "kid-size" biscotti.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the tops are cracked and spring back slightly when gently pressed. Remove the cookie sheet to a cooling rack and let the biscotti logs cool for about 20 minutes, until they are cool enough to handle.

Remove the biscotti logs from the parchment and place on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the log into diagonal slices about 1/2 - 3/4" wide. Return the cut pieces to the parchment (same parchment - no need to change!) lined baking sheet. They can be placed close together because they will not spread.

Bake biscotti for about 10 more minutes. Let cool on a rack. Enjoy with coffee or Market Spice tea!