Tag: cookies

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Pistachio spice biscotti

Can’t do chocolate every week right? Heck, I’ve really got to try and post a keto recipe soon too else no one will believe me anymore!

Anyway, I am a BIG soft and chewy cookie fan. I tend to not like crunchy/crumbly cookies very much. But then there’s always the exception that proves the rule. These are them.

I always make these chocolate – coffee biscotti for my mom for her christmas parties but I’m not a fan of (a) crunchy cookies and (b) coffee-favoured things. Most people seem to like them but I definitely do not. An online running friend commented that I always made the same cookie and so I set out to find something different. Especially ’cause during the winter I can mail cookies out to my friends. I’m sure they want something different too.

The recipe is from Cooks Illustrated. It’s a pay site so I can’t just link to it 🙁 BUT it’s awesome if you love to cook. They break everything down and explain why it works etc. There’s a great recipe for gingerbread cookies – two actually, one chewy one crispy – and explains why the change works.

Anyway, here’s my prep shot:

This will be biscotti
This will be biscotti

The pistachios were toasted a bit first so the kitchen smelled wonderful.

chopped pistachios
chopped pistachios
spices
spices

And here’s what they look like before the first baking with an egg wash on top

IMG_3274

And the final cookies:

IMG_5427They were a big hit, AND even I liked them 🙂

Categories
Get Baked

Traditional butter shortbread cookies

Toby had some friends over poker the other day. He was going to make the mac and cheese he made for the open house – it uses something like two-and-a-half pounds of shredded cheese! It was amazingly yummy (and yea, completely off the keto-plan).

I asked what he’d like me to bake. He thought about it and decided on shortbread and biscotti; two of my staples. I decided to try a new recipe for the shortbread, rather than the usual Cook’s Illustrated one I usually do. So I opened up our cookbook book shelves and pulled out In the Sweet Kitchen.

cook book cupboard
cook book cupboard

I love making shortbread – the end result is usually pretty crowd pleasing without a lot of ingredients.

this will be shortbread
this will be shortbread

So Toby bought that butter. It’s awesome. Seriously, far superior to any of the supermarket brands. It’s pricey – $7 at St. Lawrence Market – but worth it for things like shortbread where the butter really shines.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound butter – room temperature but not soft
1 cup super-fine sugar.

Okay, about the sugar – you really don’t want to use regular granulated sugar. I think it makes a difference. But you don’t have to go buy any special sugar. Just modify your regular stuff.

regular granulated sugar
regular granulated sugar

Take your regular granulated sugar and put it in a coffee grinder. We have one that we only use for food prep.

After going through the coffee grinder
After going through the coffee grinder

Can you see the difference? Far smaller crystals. It’s much finer and feels softer.

Whip the butter and the sugar together: IMG_3008

 

Then add in the flours and salt and prepare for baking. For this time I lined 2 9×9 baking pans with parchment paper and split the dough evenly between the two. The cookbook says it should fill 3 8×8 pans – but it worked okay with the 2 9x9s. I wouldn’t have wanted them any thinner than they were.

the dough before it went into the oven
the dough before it went into the oven

The cookies went into the oven for 30-35 minutes at 325f. I took them out at about the half-way point to score them into cookies. It makes it so much easier to cut them into cookies when they’re baked. The only advice I can give is to wait until the tops really have changed colour – they get a bit golden. I took these ones out a little early I think.

IMG_3011Sprinkle with sugar and then let cool a little. They were a big hit with the guys and it’s a good thing I snuck a few out to send to a friend before they came as there were only 2 left on Sunday!