This month, the cries of celebration were heard throughout the land as the random number generator gave us Green and Blacks Chocolate lovers cookbook, and if there is one thing that Mrs. P. loves more than chocolate, I haven't found it yet.
I however felt slightly cheated. Not because of the choice of recipe book, but because of all the recipes available from said book, fate chose to give us biscotti. Please don't get me wrong here, I like biscotti. Nice and crunchy, sweet with plenty of variety it's the perfect dunkable, but cheated because I perhaps wanted to be tested a bit more. That said, I had committed to performing any recipe that came up and this weekend I had the perfect opportunity to crack on so I jumped at it.
I was working with my daughter, so I decided to measure out everything into bowls before any cooking took place. I try to prep most of my cooking to some degree but I was glad I went the extra mile this time. Cooking with kids is great, and certainly the easiest way I know to get the to try new things. My daughter loves cooking with us and we try to involve her as much as we can, although obviously, it's not always possible. This time though the planets aligned and we got stuck in with considerable gusto.
The recipe was very easy, the only things we didn't already have in the cupboard were the chocolate, ginger and orange essence. I suspect that most people might not have 00 flour but as we make a lot of pasta, we managed to scrape togeather enough of that too.
Mixing and rolling were the only jobs really and when I make these again (which I'm sure I will), I think I'll go for one big one rather than three small rolls. Perhaps it's because it will look more like the ones you buy in Starbucks! I was really pleased when they came out of the oven and when I started to slice, I was surprised at how easily it started to resemble the picture. Back in the oven for a couple of minutes, and here again I would change my strategy. Either a thinner cut or a longer second bake because the end result was slightly chewy in the middle - not what you want for biscotti.
However after a day or so, the biscotti went gone slightly stale, perhaps a consequence of under cooking, again something I hope to remedy the next time around. Even so, the Green and Black's recipe got the thumbs up all around. Nice, quick and easy with a very tasty result. Indeed, I'm chomping on one right now... So, will commit to this recipe again? Absolutely. It would be a massive hit at the School bake sale and the joy of sticking one of these in your tea simply cannot be described.
Chocolate-Orange Ginger Biscotti
Makes quite a lot
150g of blanched almonds
250g '00' flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
50g crystallised ginger - finely chopped
2 large eggs (they ask for free range) - lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp orange essence
icing sugar for dusting
150g dark chocolate with ginger (I bought 2x 100g G&B ginger bars and I will admit to putting both in, so sue me)
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line your baking trays with baking paper.
Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Add the almonds, ginger, eggs and 1 tsp orange essence. Stir to form a thick but soft dough. Dust icing sugar over a clean surface, divide the mixture into three portions and roll each one into a sausage shape.
Place the rolls on the lined baking trays and flatted slightly. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and carefully cut each roll on the angle into 1cm-wde strips. Spread the strips in a single layer on the baking tray and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.
When the biscotti are cool, melt the chocolate in a bowl and mix in the remaining orange essence. ip the biscuits in the chocolate and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Consume responsibly.
No comments:
Post a Comment