Brown Butter Oatmeal Biscotti

Out of all the cookies I claim to be my favorite, biscotti are my one true love. They're crunchy and not too sweet, perfect for post-breakfast or a light dessert. I got into a biscotti-making kick a few years ago and managed to create three recipes, though I only blogged about two of them.

My inspiration for these biscotti probably occurred during my brown butter craze faze. I'm surprised I didn't add any orange zest because I was in the habit of flavoring everything orange, too. Instead, I stuck to freshly grated nutmeg and toasted, ground oatmeal.

Toasted oatmeal is a great ingredient to add to baked goods. It has a very nutty, light taste. Because of the oatmeal, it's a little easier to pretend that a few biscotti are a good idea for breakfast.

This must have been one of those recipes I made to test out, then forgot all about. Though I did make it again for gifts, and I gave the recipe to a friend who made it and said it was good. It's that whole picture taking step I sometimes have a problem doing.

And so I made them to document on Tuesday, because it's going to get so hot this weekend (97° on Sunday - global warming came early this year!) that I knew I wouldn't want to bake now.

Biscotti require a few extra steps compared to traditional cookies. Once the logs are baked, they're sliced on the bias and baked again to brown. Because my version contains fat (butter and eggs), they don't get as hard as some biscotti do; what I mean is that you can eat them without dunking in coffee.

I'm warning you now - biscotti are high-yield cookies. Biscotti morning, noon, and night! Italian cookies are that way and that's why I like them.

I can feel another biscotti kick coming on. Perhaps I'll try a tropical biscotti. If you give this recipe a try, let me know how it goes!

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Brown Butter Oatmeal Biscotti
Recipe by Christina Provo

Yields around 36 mini biscotti

Ingredients -

2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted rolled oats, ground to a powder (to toast oats, spread on a baking sheet and toast in a 350° oven for 10-13 minutes; cool before grinding)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, browned, refrigerated until solidified to the consistency of room temperature butter
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oat powder, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat together browned butter and sugar on medium for 2 minutes. mix in almond extract, then beat in eggs one at a time until well blended.


3. Stir in flour mixture, mixing and pressing gently with the back of a rubber spatula until combined. The dough will not be sticky at all, and there may be large pieces of dough that are not combined with the lump, but as you form the logs you can easily press them together. Be careful not to overmix at this stage; as long as there isn't any powdery mixture remaining, you're all set.


4. Divide dough into thirds, and place on the prepared baking sheet, evenly apart. pat each mound out to a log about 1 1/2-inches wide by 9-inches long. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are ightly golden and firm when pressed. Transfer parchment sheet, with logs, onto a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes.


5. Place one log on a cutting board and slice on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices. place slices on baking sheet (no parchment needed), and repeat with remaining logs. Bake for 10 minutes; remove sheet and flip biscotti over. Continue baking for another 10 minutes. The biscotti should be dry to the touch and golden. Place biscotti on a wire rack to cool completely.

coconut chocolate biscotti, or Mounds Bar biscotti

Hope everyone's enjoying the final week before Christmas! I haven't been able to bake all that I wanted, so don't be surprised to see Christmas cookies on here after Christmas.

I had an idea yesterday to bake coconut biscotti that reminded me of the classic Mounds Bar, a chewy coconut center encased in an envelope of chocolate coating. However, instead of a chocolate coating I added chocolate chips, for two reasons: The chocolate chips wouldn't overpower the coconut, and it wouldn't be as sweet. I enjoy eating biscotti for breakfast with coffee, and a sweeter biscotto would be too much.

I followed the same recipe outline I used for the gingerbread biscotti, which was adapted from the Once Upon A Tart method for biscotti. The egg yolks are whipped with sugar until pale and thick, then the egg whites are whipped into a meringue (I like that I get to work on my meringue skills whenever I make biscotti) with more sugar before being folded into the egg yolk mixture. Melted butter is then blended in, followed by the flour and any add-ins. I like this method because the biscotti come out a bit dense, yet not heavy, and the dough is incredibly easy to work with. These Tart guys really know what they're doing.

Instead of leaving the coconut raw, I toasted the coconut to release the oils and enhance the flavors. Coconut toasts much quicker than nuts, so don't walk away from the oven once you begin toasting.

I added flavors I felt would compliment the coconut without being detected on their own, and those were grated lemon zest and cardamom. Coconut extract also went into the mix to further heighten the coconut flavor. I chopped up regular chocolate chips so the texture was more like shavings. If you have mini chips, use those.

I like miniature biscotti the best. Unfortunately, the dough spread more than I thought and I ended up with regular biscotti, so next time I'd divide the dough into fourths.

These ended up baking a bit too long the second time, but overall I was pleased with them. The sanding sugar on top lends a sparkly, crunchy coating that looks pretty, and there's just enough chocolate without it overwhelming the coconut. The coconut flavor came out pretty much how I hoped! These aren't too sweet at all, either, even with using sweetened coconut.

As always, I like to eat biscotti with tea or coffee because it, I feel, somehow brings the flavors out a bit more, and because all good cookies deserve to be treated like they're special.

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Mounds Bar Biscotti aka Coconut Chocolate Biscotti (to prevent a lawsuit)
Recipe by Christina

ingredients ~

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and set aside
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon coconut or vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or standard chip chopped up a bit
White sanding sugar

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet (you may need sheets, plural) with parchment paper). Place 1 1/2 cups coconut on another baking sheet and toast for 8 minutes, or until thoroughly dry and crispy and there's lovely golden-brown color on much of the coconut. Remove from oven and let cool slightly; place coconut on cutting board and carefully run a knife over it a few times to break up the strands.


2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together toasted coconut, flour, baking powder, salt, lemon rind, and cardamom; set aside. Beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup granulated sugar on medium until yolks become pale yellow and thick, about 2-3 minutes.


3. In another bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. With the mixer still on high, beat in the remaining sugar until incorporated. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture. When lightened, fold in remaining meringue. Gently fold in butter and coconut extract.


4. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet, until dough forms a ball. With the last of the flour, stir in the chocolate chips.


5. Get a small bowl with some water. With lightly moistened fingers, divide dough into thirds and shape into 2 1/2x11-inch logs on the baking sheet (moisten your fingers with water as needed). Sprinkle each log with about 1 1/2 teaspoons sanding sugar. Freeze the dough logs for 15 minutes before baking so they don't spread out so much. Bake until the tops of the logs are golden brown and firm when pressed with your fingertips, about 25-30 minutes.


6. After baking, remove parchment sheet with logs still on it to a wire rack to cool for 15-20 minutes. Slice diagonally into 1/2-inch slices and place, sliced side down, back on baking sheet, no parchment necessary. Tops and bottoms can be touching since they're already cooked. Bake for 15 minutes; flip biscotti over and continue baking for 10 minutes. You're looking for a thoroughly golden color, nothing too dark since it'll detract from the flavor. Place biscotti on a cooling rack to cool completely.

gingerbread biscotti

Sometimes I forget I have a blog, a place where I saved what I did and can reference later on in the future if I have questions. Like when I couldn't remember if I split the dough in half, or in thirds because I like small biscotti.

I wanted to try some gingerbread biscotti. Though it's more of a winter flavor than fall, it has ginger and that is fallish. I needed some for a package I sent out and some simply to nosh on.

I Googled quite a few recipes as my starting point. From there, I set out to adapt my biscotti to emulate Once Upon A Tart's biscotti. I don't always follow their methods, but thanks to how they prepare their biscotti you have the option of eating it plain (without dipping it in a beverage) and not worrying you'll break a tooth. Though the texture is thoroughly crunchy, it's still perfectly bite-through-able.

So about the recipe. I read through the reviews for various recipes I looked up. Some thought it was perfect as is, while some had a few complaints about it. Many felt the spices needed to be increased to achieve a stronger gingerbread flavor, but some thought it was fine as is. In my recipe, I added about a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, but I forgot to add 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper to enhance the spiciness. I increased the flour in my modified version, but forgot to increase the spices to compensate. Everything thought it had a good balance as it was. The white chocolate drizzles contrasted nicely, too.

Overall, the flavor and texture was close to how I envisioned a gingerbread biscotto to taste like. It was spicy and had depth of flavor. The flavors also pair perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea and would make a perfect gift for the holidays.

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gingerbread biscotti with white chocolate drizzles
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground ginger
3/4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 oz. white chocolate melted in a double boiler with 1 tablespoon shortening

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt with the spices in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.


2. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup granulated sugar until yolks become pale yellow and thick, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in fresh ginger, then molasses.


3. In another bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. With the mixer still on high, beat in the remaining sugar. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. gently stir in the butter and orange extract. Gradually stir in dry ingredients into wet, until the dough forms a ball.


4. Divide dough in thirds and pat out to 2 inches in diameter and about 10 inches long. Bake until the top of the log is golden brown and firm when pressed with your fingers, about 25-35 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and transfer parchment with the logs onto wire racks to cool completely.


5. With a serrated knife, slice each log, on the diagonal, into 1/4 or 1/2 inch slices, depending on your preference. Place, cut side down, back on an unlined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes on either side. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.


6. Drizzle white chocolate over cooled biscotti; alternatively, dip the biscotti in the white chocolate (you may need to melt more if you do this) and place on sheets of wax paper to harden.