In the past couple of weeks I have tried several recipes that have bombed. Recipes, I'm sad to say, I found on the internet. Fortunately there are plenty of good ones out there too. One way to find really good, solid recipes, is to use a credible source.
The recipe sites I have listed to your left are tried and true. Food bloggers put their reputation on the line when they post recipes and in my experience, their recipes are quite good as well. If you want to experiment I suggest starting with a recipe from a reputable source, and then making some changes to see how it goes. Don't pick some random recipe and hope for the best. Trust me on this one!
I've been making biscotti for years. Biscotti mean "twice baked" in Italian. Like biscuit in French. Biscotti were all the rage a few years ago. One year I even gave them away at Christmas time. But now inspite of no longer being trendy, I like the fact that they are fairly healthy as far as cookies go, have a satisfying crunch, and I can make my own twisted up versions.
The latest version I have made is almost a sort of British "fruit slice". I took a basic biscotti recipe with a good track record that I found on Epicurious and added a ton of dried fruit to it. It was originally a ginger and almond biscotti recipe. It is easiest to bake in a loaf pan which means it no longer has the distinctive biscotti shape but that's ok with me. They still taste great!
Biscotti Style Fruit Slice
about 25 cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup whole almonds
1/4 cup crystallized ginger
1/4 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a loaf pan with parchment or wax paper.
On a baking pan toast the almonds in the oven for about 10 minutes. Let the nuts cool and very coarsely chop. Roughly chop the ginger and apricots. Into a bowl sift together flour, sugar, ground ginger, salt, and baking soda. Into a bowl with an electric mixer beat together whole egg, egg white, sugar and vanilla. Sift into the bowl the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir in the fruit and nuts.
Pour the thick batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Turn loaf out onto a rack and cool 20 minutes. On a cutting board with a serrated knife cut loaf into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices laying flat on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until crisp, about 10 minutes then flip and bake another 5 minutes. Cool cookies on rack. The cookies will crisp up even more when they cool. Keep in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
