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

Cardamom, Pistachio & Rose Scones

Our scone flavor exploration continues! We’ve modified the same base scone recipe to incorporate both sweet and savory flavors, and this recipe is for another delicious sweet one. I have to say, so far this one if my favorite - not only does it taste great, it smells and looks great too! It’s not too uncommon to find cardamom, rose and pistachios together in some of the Indian desserts, but I was a little unsure of baking all these flavors into scones - a pastry that’s generally not very sweet. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The scones are quite good on their own, but with the glaze and pistachio, rose petal topping, they are just perfect!

 

Ingredients

Click here for base ingredients

Add ins

1.5-2 tsp rose water

2 Tbsp chopped pistachio

½-1 tsp ground cardamom

Sugar glaze (optional)

¼ cup confectioners sugar

Few drops of rose water (optional)

1-2 tsp milk

Topping (optional)

~1 tsp chopped pistachio

~½ tsp dry rose petals (food grade)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Roughly chop the butter and rub it into the self rising flour until crumbly. Mix in the sugar, chopped pistachios, ground cardamom. Mix rose water with the milk and add it to the flour mixture. Combine to form a dough.

Divide the dough in half and roll it out into a circle, about ¾” thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Spread out the pieces on a greased baking sheet. Generously brush the tops and sides with milk. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Topping!

The topping can be definitely be skipped, but it is certainly recommended. It elevates the flavors greatly! To make the glaze mix the cardamom powder and rose water with the powdered sugar. Mix it all up, and slowly add only enough milk to form a thin paste. Be careful not to add too much milk at once.

Drizzle a little bit of the glaze on the scones. Quickly sprinkle chopped pistachios and rose petals, and drizzle a little more glaze to make sure the toppings stick.

Enjoy the fragrant delicious scones with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

~Gayatri

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Uniquely flavored, mildly sweet cardamom-pistachio-rose scones - perfect for afternoon tea (or cocoa or coffee)!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/08/cardamom-pistachio-rose-scones.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Sunday, August 9, 2015

Frozen Oatmeal Cups

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day - well, at least that’s what we’re told. Personally, I do feel a lot more energetic throughout the day if I start with some exercise and a good breakfast. Weekday mornings, however, don’t make it too easy to accomplish all that. In the past I would often throw together all the ingredients for instant oatmeal in a microwaveable container and bring it to work. That hardly took any time in the morning to prep, but I got tired of eating instant oatmeal. It is mushier and lacks the hardy texture and taste of old fashioned oats. Determined to still be able to have oatmeal as an option for weekday breakfast, I decided to cook a large batch of old fashioned oats over the weekend, freeze it and enjoy it through the week. The toppings are frozen right into the oatmeal, making it very convenient to grab some from the freezer before heading to work in the morning. This has been working really well for me and its so versatile that I look forward to making new flavors each week!

Ingredients (makes ~10 muffin cups):

1.5 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups water

1-1.5 cups milk

The water-milk ratio is up to you - you can completely eliminate one or the other as well. The package instructions typically ask for 1 part oats, 2 parts liquid. I generally add a little more liquid since it gets absorbed as the oatmeal cools down and then reheating it in the microwave can make it even drier.

Optional toppings: (pretty much anything you put in your regular oatmeal)

Sweeteners:

White sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, chocolate chips

Fruits:

Dried fruits - cranberries, raisins, chopped apricots

Berries (fresh or frozen)

Any other chopped fruit (preferably non citrus if using milk)

Nuts and seeds:

Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, soaked chia seeds, poppy seeds

Granola for extra crunch (I generally avoid this and just use nuts)

Spices and flavoring:

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla essence, cocoa powder

Extra nutrition:

Flaxseed/chia seed powder

vanilla/chocolate protein powder (eliminate sweetener if powder is sweet)

Bring the water-milk mixture to a boil on medium heat. Add the oats and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add any spices/flavorings that you plan to use. You may also add sweetener while cooking - I typically add a drizzle of honey/agave as a topping. Take off the heat and let the oatmeal cool down a little.

Divide the cooked oatmeal into muffin cups leaving a little room on top for the add-ins (silicone moulds work wonderfully for this - but you should be able to pop the frozen oatmeal out even without the moulds). Add your favorite toppings. Make sure everything touches the oatmeal so that it sticks. You can push the fruit in a little to make room on top if needed. Put it in the freezer for a couple hours. Once frozen, you can pop them out from the pan and store in an airtight plastic bag or container.

Here are a few flavor combinations that I’ve made so far (and remembered to take pictures of). I'll keep updating this space whenever I make something new/interesting.

The possibilities are endless and it is a lot of fun experimenting! When you’re ready to eat, heat as many oatmeal cups as you like in the microwave. I generally heat up two for my breakfast and it takes about 1-1.5 minutes on high setting to heat up. Add a little water/milk if desired and enjoy a hot bowl of hearty oatmeal.

~ Gayatri