Eggnog biscotti

It might have taken me a while to get started with the Christmas series, but once I did I was perfuming my house with spices for hours on end – my husband took a look at the kitchen counter and said: “wow, you are really inspired!” :)

These biscotti are super simple to make and might even receive other flavors if you are not that crazy for nutmeg, maybe some citrus zest? I guess they would be amazing with orange and Cointreau, for instance. The original recipe called for eggnog in the glaze, so I adapted it a little to avoid using raw eggs in the biscotti.

Eggnog biscotti
slightly adapted from here

Biscotti:
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup (133g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon rum
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs

For the glaze:
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (120g) icing sugar
generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
about 1 tablespoon whole milk

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.

Biscotti: in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in vanilla, rum and nutmeg. Beat in eggs one at a time. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients and mix just until a dough forms (mine was too soft to shape, I added 1 tablespoon of flour).
Divide dough in half and shape each half in a log about 15x5cm (6x2in). Place the logs about 7.5cm (3in) apart onto prepared sheets and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes – leave the oven on. Line another large baking sheet with baking paper.
Slice biscotti into little less than 2cm (¾ in) slices. Place slices onto prepared sheet and bake fo 10 minutes. Turn all slices carefully, and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheet over a wire rack.

Glaze: whisk butter, sugar and nutmeg until mixture starts to get creamy. Add milk gradually, whisking until drizzable consistency. Drizzle biscotti with glaze and set aside until glaze is dry, about 20 minutes.
Biscotti can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days – without the glaze they last even longer.

Makes about 25

Almond gingerbread puffs

I work for a Swiss company, and some of my coworkers have discovered how much I love sweets – every now and then I get Lindt chocolates, which make my days a lot sweeter. :)

I have to say that I love getting food as gifts – I believe that food = love, and I love giving food as gifts, too, especially at this time of the year. Cookies are easy to make and to package, most people like them therefore they are the perfect present. These almond puffs taste delicious and they get more intense as days go by, especially if kept in an airtight container, but they might not last that long. :)

Almond gingerbread puffs
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Delicious magazine

1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (140g) almond meal
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
generous pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Amaretto (optional)
about 3 tablespoons icing sugar, for dusting the cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond meal, flour, spices and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and honey until light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and the Amaretto. On low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix just until a dough forms – it mixture is too dry, add 1 teaspoon of water and mix again.

Using leveled 2 tablespoons of dough per cookies, roll balls and place them onto prepared baking sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. Sift icing sugar over the cookies and return them to the oven for 2 more minutes. Cool on sheets over a wire rack.

The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Makes about 30

Gingerbread and peanut caramel bars

Having rediscovered the pleasure I used to feel in the kitchen I keep having ideas and imagining things to cook and bake – I can’t wait for the weekends, not only to get some rest but also to prepare something tasty. I made a broccolini pesto the other day that turned out wonderful – even my not-so-into-pesto husband liked it a lot. But right now we are in Christmas mode around here, therefore I bring you these bars: I saw them on the latest issue of Donna Hay magazine and since I am a sucker for gingerbread, caramel and peanuts I had to make them.

They might seem a bit time-consuming, but it is just a matter of respecting the fridge time for each layer – there is also a serious risk of eating the entire saucepan of caramel before pouring it over the gingerbread base, but that is a completely different matter. ;)

Gingerbread and peanut caramel bars
from the always delicious Donna Hay Magazine

Base:
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
90g light brown sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup – I used corn syrup
1/3 cup molasses
375g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
175g unsalted butter, softened
220g light brown sugar
½ cup golden syrup
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
200g unsalted toasted peanuts

Lightly butter a 20x30cm baking pan (use a deep pan, or make only 3/4 of the caramel recipe), line it with foil leaving an overhand on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup, molasses, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and vanilla and beat just until a dough starts to form. Press the mixture into the prepared pan, prick it all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Bake the gingerbread for about 15 minutes or until golden – remove from the oven but keep it on.

Make the caramel: place butter, sugar and golden syrup in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Bring to the boil then cook for 8-10 minutes or until mixture reaches 140°C (285°F) on a sugar thermometer. Carefully add cream – mixture will spit furiously – and stir until dissolved, then cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in the peanuts, remove from the heat and pour over the gingerbread base. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until caramel is slightly set around the edges (caramel will set as it cools). Cool for 15 minutes, then refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars to serve. Keep the bars in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Makes 24

Gingerbread pepper cookies

So you know that I decided to bake for the Christmas series, got carried away and made cookies beside this cake – I have to tell you, without false modesty, that the cookies turned out wonderful! Soft, packed with oats and perfumed with spices, they were a hit with my family and also my coworkers.

I used to take my baked goods to work all the time in the past, but this was the first time I baked for my new coworkers and I did not know if the girls would like the cookies – they loved them and now I want to bake more delicious things for them. <3

Gingerbread pepper cookies
slightly adapted from the wonderful and beautiful Home Baked: More Than 150 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Goodies

200g all purpose flour
150g rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
250g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Cointreau (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, pepper and spices. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and Cointreau. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until combined (do not overmix).

Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop drop portions of dough per cookie onto prepared sheets, spacing 5cm (2in) apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden around the edges. Cool on sheet over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then slide the paper onto the rack and cool completely.

Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.

Makes about 28

Gingerbread honey cake because Christmas is coming

I was sitting home the other day, thinking about Christmas and how it is my favorite time of the year. I thought about my Christmas tree, and how I would be decorating it in a few days and felt miserable because this year I would not be able to prepare the Christmas recipes for the blog like I’d done in previous years.

I decided that there would be at least one recipe for the Christmas series this year, went to the kitchen and baked this cake – actually, I baked some cookies, too. ;)

This gingerbread cake is super tender, smells and tastes delicious and will perfume your entire home while in the oven and even after cooled down. It is, in fact, a loaf cake, but the one I used was a bit smaller and I ended up with a loaf + a small round cake (I used a 1-cup capacity pan). Since the mini cake looked so adorable that was the one I used for the photo – I hope the cake’s cuteness entices you to bake it, too, and you can thank me later. ;)

Gingerbread honey cake
slightly adapted from the beautiful Home Baked: More Than 150 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Goodies

85g crystallized ginger
50g crystallized orange peel
220g (1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon) all purpose flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
100g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk, room temperature
100g light brown sugar
150ml honey
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Cointreau (optional)
¼ teaspoon Amaretto (optional)
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 6-cup capacity loaf pan, line it with baking paper leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter it as well.

Chop the crystallized ginger and crystallized peel, place in a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the flour. Set aside.
Combine remaining flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt and spices in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the butter and on low speed mix the ingredients together until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in crystallized ginger and orange peel. In the meantime, heat together over low heat milk, brown sugar and honey until honey and sugar are dissolved (mixture should not get too hot, otherwise it might cook the eggs). Pour over the flour mixture and stir until just combined – do not overmix. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, Cointreau and Amaretto.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully unmold and cool completely over the rack before peeling off the paper.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 8-10