The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Part 1 - Baking Peppermint Biscotti

In December of last year, I read about The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, and I wanted to participate so bad!  The problem - a food blog was required and a food blog was exactly what I lacked.  So, What This Mama Eats was born (probably one of the dumber reasons to start a blog ever...).

This year, when the announcement was made in November, I was ready to go!  Here's how it works: you sign up, pay a $4.00 tax-deductible donation to Cookies for Kids' Cancer, receive the names and addresses of three fellow food bloggers, choose your recipe, bake it, ship it, and blog about it.

I signed up, got my names, and decided to make peppermint biscotti.

Biscotti is a fairly easy cookie to make.  It gets its texture from two separate baking periods.

First, mix sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and peppermint extract. (If you are planning to dip in almond bark and candy cane bits, you can skip the peppermint extract.  Without the extra peppermint on the outside you need the extra flavor on the inside.)  In a separate bowl, stir together flour and baking powder.  I do this using a sieve to sift out any lumps.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture, blend.  Fold in peppermint bits.

Separate the dough into two sections. Shape each half of the dough into a rectangle, 10 x 3 inches, on parchment. The benefit to using parchment paper is that you can measure the 10 inches by 3 inches so you know exactly how big to make the loaf.  The dough is a bit sticky, so put flour on your hand or use a silicon spatula to shape it.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Cut each section crosswise into 3/4 to 1 inch slices. (I also marked those measurements on the parchment paper.)  I use a dough cutter, that you can see in the picture below, to cut the slices.  It is perfect for this. Place slices cut sides down on a baking sheet.

Bake 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Optional: Melt almond bark according to package directions.  Place broken bits of 10 candy canes on a plate.  Dip each biscotti first into the almond bark and then into the peppermint.  Place on a piece of wax paper.  Allow the almond bark to harden before storing or packaging for shipping.  See tomorrow's post for packaging and shipping tips.

Peppermint Biscotti

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
20 small candy canes + 10 small candy canes (optional), finely crushed (keep separate)

1 package almond bark (optional)

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

In a large bowl use an electric mixer to blend the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and peppermint extract (if using) until smooth and creamy.

In a separate bowl stir together flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until all the ingredients are blended together. Fold in the broken bits of the 20 candy canes.

Separate the dough into two sections. Shape each half of the dough into a rectangle, 10 x 3 inches, on parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Cut each section crosswise into 3/4-1 inch slices. Place slices cut sides down on a baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Optional: Melt almond bark according to package directions.  Place broken bits of 10 candy canes on a plate.  Dip each biscotti first into the almond bark and then into the peppermint.  Place on a piece of wax paper.  Allow the almond bark to harden before storing or packaging for shipping.

Makes 24 - 26 cookies.

This recipe is adapted from a post by Elaine Smit of Chow Bella Kids on Williams-Sonoma's Taste blog.

My peppermint biscotti were sent to Kitchen Joy, Western New Yorker, and Chew Nibble Nosh.

Check back tomorrow for packaging and shipping tips and Friday to see what I got in the mail!
See The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Part 2 - Packaging & Shipping.
See The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Part 3 - Receiving

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