almond

Maraschino Cherry-Almond Biscotti

On any given day, it’s possible that I have a pre-breakfast snack. (This is a no judge zone.)

On average, I wake at 6:30 am… by 7:00 I’m hitting the gym. Bahaha! Just kidding. (In a dream world though…) But Seriously, by 7 I have a cup of coffee in hand and a mouthful of “something” as I go about my morning routine. Sometimes it’s the crust of a peanut butter sandwich, or some apple slices that didn’t fit in the snack bag for my kid’s packed lunch, other times it’s lemon water and Greek yogurt for a metabolic jump start. For me these first few bites kick off the day and set the tone for my morning. When I really want it to satisfy, it’s biscotti (or a Kind granola bar, because those are just candy I get to call health food). This Maraschino Cherry Almond Biscotti recipe is perfection for those days that you want that- life is good and I’m so fancy feeling… maybe I should get a mani?

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tablespoon almond extract

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1 cup maraschino cherries well drained, patted dry, and finely chopped (reserve the juice, secret recipe at the end 😉 )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toast your almond slices on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about eight minutes, let cool and set aside.

Chop drained maraschino cherries and strainer a bowl (reserving juice). Place cherries on a paper towel to remove excess moisture so that your biscotti stays crunchy. Set aside.

Beat sugar and butter until smooth, add almond extract, and eggs until combined.


Using a sifter add flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until dough is formed. Fold in almonds and cherries.

If dough is crumbly,  turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple minutes.

Now divide dough in half and shape each half into a rectangle about 12” x 2.5”, and place each half on an ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake for 30 minutes or until the center of the dough is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool. Once cooled, cut each rectangle on the bias into ½” slices using a serrated knife. Place slices, cut side down, on the ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake about 15 minutes. When they are lightly browned move to a cooling rack.

Once they’re cool they are ready to be enjoyed (and totally delicious in their own right). Or you can decorate them like we did using milk chocolate, white chocolate, sliced almonds and our own maraschino cherry white chocolate.

To make Maraschino Cherry-White Chocolate Glaze: simply melted ½ cup of white chocolate over a double boiler and whisk in about ¼ cup of the (room temperature) reserved maraschino cherry juice.

Have a fabulous morning… and day… evening…

Sadie’s Fruitcake

I can’t tell you why fruitcake gets a bad rap. Maybe I haven’t eaten a bad one. I can tell you that I could eat this one every day. I’m really proud of it. A blogger friend of mine, Natascha of Natascha’s Palace, made a fruitcake challenge and I accepted. I’ve tweaked this cake to perfection, if I do say so myself. It’s a little sugar, spice and everything nice (with less emphasis on spice or heavy on the everything). This fruitcake is dense and moist and outright delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

As organic as possible:

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/3 cup chopped dates, pitted

1/3 cup dried cherries

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a 10 cup tube or angel food pan. (Do yourself a favor and do not choose a decorative bundt cake pan, trust me on this one.) Set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large a bowl. Gently toss the pecans and walnuts in the flour mixture. Next add the dates. I like to toss these carefully (a few at a time) in the flour nut mixture because they are the stickiest. Once the chopped dates are coated with the flour mixture, add the cherries, cranberries, regular and golden raisins, and coconut. Gently toss until all fruit is lightly coated with flour mixture.

In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer, cream butter. Add sugar and beat with the butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add vanilla, almond extract and lemon juice. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients, a scoop full at a time to creamed butter mixture, until all is combined. (I like to mix this part by hand, to not over-mix.) The batter will be very thick (like the consistency of  a thick drop cookie). Spoon the batter in the prepared pan, and gently even out the top with the back of the spoon or spatula.

Bake the cake for 1 1/2  hours. Remove cake from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the edges of the cake and place onto cooling rack to cool completely before serving.

 

Double Chocolate-Almond Biscotti

I can eat biscotti all day without guilt. Maybe because its called biscotti (Italian for a twice baked cookie), it doesn’t register. I think I’ve tried it all. There hasn’t been one variation I didn’t like. Besides, that second round in the oven probably got rid of anything bad for me, right?

As organic as possible:

1/2 cup Butter, softened

3/4 cup Sugar (rounded)

1 tsp Almond extract

1/4 cup Cocoa powder

2 tsp Baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

2 Eggs

1 3/4 cup Flour

1/2 cup Milk Chocolate chips or pieces

1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate chips or pieces

1 cup Sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375º. Lightly grease a cookie sheet, set aside. In a stand-up electric mixer or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or with your mighty hand, beat butter, sugar and almond extract. Add cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs, one at a time. Add flour, a third at a time, until combined. Remove bowl from mixer. Add milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and almond pieces, gently fold until incorporated.

Separate dough into to halves. Taking one half of the dough portion into your hands, shape into a log about 9″ long. Place onto the baking sheet lengthwise and gently press down to lightly flatten. Repeat with the other half. Place into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325º. Place cookie loaf onto a cutting board and cut diagonally with a serrated knife. Place cut side down and bake for 8-9 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake for an additional 8-9 minutes, until crisp. Let cool. Serve with coffee or hot cocoa for dipping or all alone.