Pistachio, Cashew and Chopcolate Chip Biscotti

A couple months ago I was in the Maryland and DC area visiting friends. I reached their home in the evening after a very short flight, so I was in no way tired and was excited to explore the area with them. But probably to ensure that I won’t get cranky from hunger, my hosts decided to feed me some snack before we headed out. My friend Soumya brought out a plate of beautiful looking biscotti that I couldn't have resisted even if I wanted to. She told me that she had bought those at Starbucks. Had she not told me later that she was joking, I would have absolutely believed that! These decadent homemade biscotti were much easier to bite into than the usual extra hard ones, and so tempting that it became my favorite travel snack for the rest of the trip.


 

 

A little bit of a background on biscotti and my love/hate relationship with them - until I came to the US some 10 years ago, I didn’t know these cookies existed. But while I was at Purdue, the Nonni’s triple chocolate biscotto (yes, that’s the singular form!) quickly became a fairly regular afternoon snack. As much as I love the taste, the disappointing thing about biscotti for me is that they are generally difficult to eat without dunking them in tea/coffee/milk. But they taste so good, that I was determined to find out why the extra hard (and not all that pleasant) texture. Turns out, the twice baked hard cookies were prepared that way to increase the shelf life in the verrrrry olden days (biscotti can be traced back to 1st century AD). These long-lasting cookies used to be a convenient snack for travellers. Apparently during the European renaissance period, these cookies were even enjoyed dipped in wine!

Anyway, coming back to the present- I found out that Soumya had used one of Giada De Laurentiis’ biscotti recipes with some very good modifications. She had cut down on the sugar and used all brown sugar instead of white, orange zest instead of lemon, and also changed up the add-ins such as nuts, chocolate etc. I followed her directions, with one minor change of switching out half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat. The baking times I used are also lower than the original recipe - partly because I was worried about ending up with very hard cookies, and partly because I was too impatient.

Ingredients: (Makes ~3 dozen biscotti)

2 cups flour (I used half all purpose and half whole wheat flour)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

zest of 1 Navel orange

¼ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used half cashews, half pistachios)

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and orange zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. This is not an easy step, but persist and you’ll end up with a lovely dough.

At this point it is best to use your hands (or perhaps a wooden spoon) to mix in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Divide the dough in half, and make two elongated logs. Put them on the prepared pan, leaving some room since they will expand a little. Gently pat them down, trying to ensure the width and height stays approximately the same everywhere to ensure even baking.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool on a wire rack for ~10 minutes before slicing about 1” thick using a sharp serrated knife. At this stage the cookies are still cooking inside with the heat that's trapped and are a bit fragile, so they are prone to breaking if the wait time is too short or too long. I like to start slicing around 10 minutes after taking them out of the oven, and as I get to the center of the logs, I let them rest for another minute or two if they’re too warm.

Place the biscotti back on the baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for another ~12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an air-tight container.

Enjoy with a steaming cup of tea or coffee… or wine if that suits your taste!

~Gayatri

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Delicious crispy (but not overly hard!)...

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Thursday, February 25, 2016

Nankhatai (Cardamom Cookies)

Nankhatai is a melt-in-your-mouth delicious Indian cookie, typically with a hint of cardamom and often adorned with nuts. It has a typical rounded top and a golden brown bottom. When I first made pudding mix cookies, the shape and texture reminded me of nankhatai - a beloved cookie from my childhood, and I couldn’t wait to try out the recipe with Indian flavors.

Ingredients:

Base ingredients (Same as Orange Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies)

1 packet (5.1oz or 145g) of dry instant vanilla pudding mix - I used the Great Value brand

¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1¼ cup all purpose flour

Add ins:

2 tsp cardamom powder

2-3 tsp finely chopped cashews

2-3 tsp finely chopped pistachios

1 tsp rose water (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift the dry pudding mix into a large bowl, discarding any large lumps of sugar. Add butter and beat on high speed for ~5 minutes until the sugar melts and mixture is light and fluffy.

Add flour, cardamom powder, nuts (reserving a few pieces to garnish on top) and rose water. Beat on low speed until combined.

Form 1” diameter balls and arrange them about an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If desired, add a piece of nut on top of each one, pressing it in gently so it sticks.

Bake for ~13 minutes until the nankhatai is puffed up and golden brown on the bottom. Let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy with a cup of tea!

~Gayatri

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A childhood favorite - Nankhatai! Here's an easy recipe for the Indian cookie using vanilla pudding mix.http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2016/02/nankhatai-cardamom-cookies.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Monday, February 1, 2016

Orange Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

It’s almost Christmas time and the festive mood is apparent everywhere - houses are beautifully adorned with twinkling lights, cafes serve holiday specials and pretty much every store is full of red and green. It’s indeed a wonderful time of the year. It’s also a time to bake sweet treats and share with your loved ones! Worry not if you’re not really into baking. This is the simplest and easiest cookie recipe you’ll find. The trick is to use instant pudding mix powder which takes care of the sweetener and leavener. You don’t need eggs or any other liquid - just add butter and flour, and let the pudding mix do it’s magic!

Ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Eggless Cooking

1 packet (5.1oz or 145g) of dry instant vanilla pudding mix - I used the Great Value brand

¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1¼ cup all purpose flour

Zest of 1 orange

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips

Omit the orange zest and chocolate chips for simple vanilla cookies.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift the dry pudding mix into a large bowl. Sifting helps remove some of the large sugar granules which might not melt and could leave a gritty texture.

Add butter and beat on high speed for ~5 minutes. This might seem excessive but it helps break down and melt the sugar in the pudding mix. Melting the butter before adding the pudding mix also helps, however the dough doesn’t stay quite as stiff and spreads while baking, leading to thinner cookies.

Add the flour & orange zest, and beat on low speed until completely combined. The dough should be thick but not sticky. Mix in the chocolate chips using your hands or a wooden spoon.

Make 1” balls of the dough and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet at least an inch apart. Bake for 11-15 minutes (it took 13 minutes in my oven) until golden brown on the bottom and lightly browned on top.

The cookies will be soft to touch, so let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea, and store the rest in an airtight container once completely cooled.

Wish you all safe and happy holidays!

~Gayatri

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Quick, easy and delicious cookies for Christmas time..http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/12/orange-chocolate-chip-pudding-cookies.htmlHappy holidays everyone!
Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free)

Karla and I love to try making new (and preferably healthy) desserts, and the best way to get feedback is to take them to work and share with our team! One of our colleagues is on a gluten free, low sugar diet so he doesn’t quite indulge in most desserts like the rest of us. So, this time I decided to make a gluten free dessert and keep it low on sugar as well. I’d been planning to make pumpkin cookies for a while and figured I could use gluten free oat flour as a base. There are plenty of gluten free pumpkin cookie recipes online, however I wanted more of a soft cakey cookie. So I ended up approximating the dry ingredients from a handful of recipes that used all purpose flour. I substituted it with oat flour, added some corn starch to make sure the cookies are not dry and crumbly (oat flour has no gluten for binding!), reduced the amount of sugar and added some milk because oat flour absorbs more liquid than wheat flour, which could also leave the cookies dry. These whole grain cookies are like little pillows of pumpkin with a hint of sweetness and spice.

Ingredients: (Makes ~4 dozen small cookies)

2 cups gluten free whole grain oat flour

2 Tbsp corn starch

1½ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 cup brown sugar (or more if you prefer)

1 cup pumpkin puree (if using canned, make sure it is not pie filling)

½ cup of canola/vegetable oil

1 egg

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk (I used fat free)

Optional add-ins

½ cup dark chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 F. 

In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla, milk until well combined. Make sure the sugar doesn’t leave any lumps. In another bowl combine the  oat flour, corn flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, nuts and mix. 

Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Drop the batter using a couple teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheet (~2-3 teaspoonfuls per cookie). Use a small ice-cream/cookie scoop if you’d like perfectly round cookies. These don’t spread too much so leaving about an inch or so between the cookies would be enough.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. They will be nice and puffy, and should spring back when gently pressed. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

~Gayatri

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Soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies made gluten free using oat flour. http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/08/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-gluten.html
Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Sunday, August 30, 2015

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

At the beginning of July, we had another “Red-White-Blue” food day at work to celebrate Independence Day, and there were a lot of delicious treats! One of the sweet treats we made was white-chocolate and cranberry cookies, a variant of our hazelnut chocolate chip cookie. I brought about 3 dozen in to work and there were none left to take back home!

Ingredients: (makes ~3 dozen cookies)

Follow this link for basic ingredients

Add-ins

~1 cup white chocolate chips

~¾ cup dried cranberries

Heat oven to 350F. Per the recipe here, combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, blend sugars together, then add butter and mix well. Stir in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour mixture to wet ingredients until everything is combined, then fold in your add-ins (cranberries and white-chocolate chips).

Place tablespoon-sized scoops of batter on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, making sure to leave enough room since cookies will spread while baking. Bake for 10 minutes - the edges will just barely begin to turn brown and the cookies will be delectably soft and moist on the inside!

~Karla


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Soft and delicious white chocolate cranberry cookies... An extremely versatile cookie recipe!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/07/white-chocolate-cranberry-cookies.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I like to call these “little pieces of heaven” because they combine two of the greatest, most heavenly flavors known to humankind - hazelnut and chocolate. Nutella, anyone?! The recipe is based on a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, but I’ve made several adjustments, and it’s been so long since I got the recipe that I can’t even find the original! In any case, you can use the same basic cookie recipe and just swap the nuts and chocolate if you want white chocolate macadamia instead :-)

Ingredients: (makes about 3 dozen cookies)

2 cups flour (I used a 1:2 ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose)

1 tsp baking soda

dash of salt

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter (I used ¼ cup applesauce and about ¾ cup + 1 TBSP canola oil)

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Add-ins:

~¾ cup chopped hazelnuts

~1 cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350F. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, blend the sugars together. Add butter and mix well (if using real butter, mix until a grainy paste forms, otherwise the mixture should be smooth and a little liquidy). Add eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Place tablespoon-sized dollops of batter on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. These cookies have a tendency to spread (especially with the applesauce/oil substitution) so make sure there’s plenty of room between each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes...then stuff yourself silly!

~Karla

Note: If using the applesauce/oil substitution, refrigerating the dough for about an hour before baking will make it easier to handle when spooning onto the cookie sheets. Refrigerating will also help keep cookies from spreading so much during baking.


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Chocolate-hazelnut-heaven! Warning: these cookies may be highly addictive.http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/06/hazelnut-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Friday, June 19, 2015

Orange-glazed Sweet Potato Bread (Or: You Can Never Have Too Many Desserts)

This past holiday season, my husband and I hosted a Christmas Day potluck at our house. Everyone brought all sorts of amazing food, from ChristmasTree Pastries to green bean casserole to corn pudding and more! My mom was in charge of candied sweet potatoes, and, since my parents were driving 5ish hours to come stay with us over the holidays, I figured she would make the dish once they got to our place. To my surprise, they showed up with coolers overflowing with pre-made food – including candied sweet potatoes! I then had a serious dilemma on my hands – what should I do with the extra sweet potatoes I had already bought? In true Cooks of Cake and Kindness fashion, I made another dessert!

This recipe was originally for cookies (see recipe here), but I soon got tired of waiting for each batch of cookies to bake (I had a lot of batter!). Solution: mini bread loaves!

Ingredients
2 cups well-mashed or pureed sweet potato (roughly 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes)
2.5 cups flour (I used about half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
2.5 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional - I added only a dash)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine (or substitute 1/4 cup applesauce + 3/4 cup canola oil)
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated orange rind (optional - I did not add orange rind)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional - I did not add nuts)

Glaze: 1 cup confectioner's sugar + 2 TBSP orange juice (adjust amount of liquid for desired consistency)

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sweet potato, vanilla, and (optional) orange rind. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. (Optional: stir in pecans.)

To make cookies, drop the batter by heaping teaspoons onto a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between – they will spread! Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. This amount of batter should make about 6 dozen cookies.

If you get tired of too many cookie batches, as I did after 2 rounds of making cookies, grease 6 mini-loaf pans. Divide batter evenly among the pans and bake about 20 minutes (you should be able to bake all the loaves together at the same time) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. In all, I made 2 dozen cookies and 4 mini-loaves.

For the glaze, mix the confectioner’s sugar and orange juice to desired consistency (you may need to increase the amount of both depending on how many cookies/mini-loaves are made). Glaze is best when applied to cookies or loaves when they are still warm. Note: I didn’t actually have confectioner’s sugar, and I didn’t really want to break out the food processor just for this step, so I used regular granulated sugar in the glaze. It wasn’t as smooth as it would have been, but it turned out okay and still tasted delicious!

~Karla