Bready or Not Original: Cranberry Lemon Biscotti
This lemon-themed month needs some breakfast food. How about some Cranberry Lemon Biscotti?
The lemon here isn’t hardcore. Zest throughout the dough adds freshness, and the dried cranberries are soaked in the juice to rehydrate. This gives the cranberries an especially pleasant zing.
For years, I was intimidated by biscotti, but now I enjoy coming up with a couple new recipes a year. Really, the trickiest thing about this is how sticky the dough is when it’s time to shape it.
I like the addition of white chocolate drizzle to add a touch more sweetness, but that’s optional.
The end result is a biscotti with a bright, sunny flavor that complements plump, tart cranberries, all in crispy, bready form that’s especially good dunked in coffee or tea!
This recipe is midway through my April of lemon recipes!
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
Cranberry Lemon Biscotti [today]
Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon Bundt Cake
Lemon Frangipane
Bready or Not Original: Cranberry Lemon Biscotti
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 4 ounces white chocolate optional, to drizzle on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Zest and juice lemon. Set aside zest, and soak cranberries in juice.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs with white sugar. Add oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and zest. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
- Drain lemon juice out of cranberries; discard juice. Fold cranberries into dough to equally distribute.
- Divide dough in half. Place each piece spaced out on parchment. Dough will be very sticky, so shape with plastic spatula or greased or floured hands into 1-inch high flat rectangular logs.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Use a long bread knife and slice down--don't saw--into long, even cookies. Space out cookies upright, if possible, or lay on sides.
- Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes; if cookies are laying on sides, flip them to other side halfway through. Biscotti should be golden and somewhat crisp.
- Let biscotti sit out for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours so that they can cool off and dry out even more.
- If adding white chocolate on top, melt chocolate in microwave or on stovetop (keep in mind, white chocolate can burn fast!). Use a fork to drizzle chocolate, or dip an end of each biscotti into the chocolate. Let set again for an hour or so, then pack into sealed bags or plastic containers.
- Biscotti can keep in sealed containers for as long as a month.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Classic: Oatmeal Cream Pies
I prepared two classic recipes to repost while I was on vacation this summer. That isn’t happening now. Therefore, I’m sharing them earlier with the hope that my fellow #stressbakers can enjoy them. Eat well and stay safe out there!
Today I present something seriously delicious: Oatmeal Cream Pies, aka Sandwich Cookies.
These things are about the size of a sandwich, too, and about as filling because of the chewy oatmeal cookies. You have two tablespoons worth of dough with a teaspoon of marshmallow cream between them. So yeah.
I don’t think I’d make smaller cookies, though, for sheer reasons of space and time. The recipe makes over four dozen cookies, which makes for over two dozen sandwich cookies. This is a recipe to make for a lot of hungry adults or kids!
If you love commercial-made cream pies like the ones from Little Debbie, these homemade ones will blow your mind. They have that same taste and texture, but with some extra chewy freshness.
I highly advise that you use tablespoon and teaspoon scoops for this recipe, too. It helps a lot if the cookies are of uniform size and that the amount of filling is equally distributed.
Modified from Taste of Home.
Bready or Not: Oatmeal Cream Pies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups shortening
- 2 2/3 cups brown sugar packed
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
Filling:
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 7 oz marshmallow creme 1 jar
- 1 - 3 Tablespoons milk or half & half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and brown sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; gradually add this dry mix to the creamed mix. Stir in oats. If you're using a stand mixer, you'll probably need to stir the last of the oats in by hand. This is a lot of dough!
- Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out the dough onto a cookie sheet, keeping two inches between each spoonful. These will spread.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes; they brown very fast, so keep an eye on them at the end. Remove them when they are turning golden brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transitioning them to a rack to cool.
- To make the filling, start by sifting the confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. Add the shortening and marshmallow crème. Add a tablespoon of milk and gradually add more as needed to get it to spreadable consistency. Use a heaping teaspoon to dollop filling onto the base of a cookie. Spread it with a knife, top with another cookie, and press together to get cream to the edges.
- End result: about 30 large sandwich cookies.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
These Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars are zippy and fresh, perfect to serve at the holidays and year-round!
I firmly believe good food should be enjoyed whenever. I suppose some people would try to classify these as a Christmassy thing because they are a kind of gingerbread bar. To that, I say NOPE.
I’m rebellious. It’s April. Ginger is an awesome spice. It should be confined to no season. Be free, ginger!
These bars aren’t all about the ginger, though. The spices here are nuanced and delicious, and the lemon plays a pretty big part in the crisp glaze.
Try to make these things at least a day ahead of when they will be served, too, as they taste even BETTER after sitting in the fridge. I say that, but they are pretty awesome while fresh, too.
This is the second entry in my April of lemon recipes. Here’s what else you can look forward to this month!
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars [you are here]
Cranberry Lemon Biscotti
Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon Bundt Cake
Lemon Frangipane
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
Equipment
- 13x9 pan
Ingredients
Bars
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Glaze
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar plus more as needed
- 5 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest finely grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, ginger, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Gradually mix dry ingredients into the wet, until just combined. Fold in the dried cranberries.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and even out. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until middle passes toothpick test. Cool completely.
- To make the glaze, in a small bowl melt the butter. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Stir to create a thick, spreadable consistency, adding more sugar if needed to thicken or more lemon juice or water to thin. Spread atop bars. Sprinkle zest over the top. Let glaze set before cutting.
- Store bars sliced, with waxed paper between layers, in sealed container in fridge. Note that these bars taste even better after chilling for a day! They keep well for several days, too.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Cat Tongue Cookies (Langues de Chat)
Cat Tongue Cookies! NO CATS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THESE COOKIES.
I first heard about these cookies on the Great British Bake Off, where they were used as part of another recipe. My curiosity was piqued.
I am trying out a lot more French recipes. This seemed like a good, basic one to try… even though I HATE piping things. Did I say hate? I meant LOATHE.
That said, this recipe wasn’t too awful in that regard. The dough wasn’t a big sticky mess. I used a gallon Ziploc bag and cut the corner off, the old basic method, and that worked just fine.
The end result reminded me a lot of the old American stand-by, Nilla Wafers. Nothing fancy by themselves, but crisp and refreshing. They would be easy to dress up by dipping them in chocolate, Nutella, jam, whatever–if you want.
I thought they were just fine by themselves, with my cats lurking close by–tongues intact.
Bready or Not: Cat Tongue Cookies (Langues de Chat)
Equipment
- parchment paper
- piping bag or gallon Ziploc
Ingredients
- 9 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar plus 2 Tablespoons
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Line a large baking pan with parchment. Use pencil to draw 3-inch lines spaced several inches apart in rows upon the paper, then flip over so the pencil lines still show through as guides.
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar (1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons) until smooth. Beat in egg whites one at a time until batter is light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla followed by flour. Dough might be stiff.
- Put about half of dough into a Ziploc bag (then cut off corner) or a piping bag with a medium star tip. Squeeze out dough onto the lines on parchment.
- Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until edges are starting to brown. Move to cooling rack. Pipe and bake remaining dough, reusing parchment.
- Store in a sealed container. Good dipped into chocolate or spread with Nutella--or all by itself.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Chocolate Chip Espresso Shortbread
Basic Scottish shortbread is one of the awesomest things in the world. It’s also a blank canvas for variations beyond count. Chocolate chips and a jolt of espresso add extra oomph to this new spin!
Pride O’ Scotland Shortbread was one of the first recipes I considered ‘mine’ as a teenager. It became the one thing I made each year for our family’s Thanksgiving potluck.
Appropriately, it’s also something I made for my husband the very first day I met him when I was 18. (Yes, he was an almost total stranger. Yes, I welcomed him with shortbread. Because that’s what I do.)
I considered the recipe sacrosanct the past two decades… and then I got an idea. Chocolate. Espresso powder. It had to be good, right? Or would it be a crumbly mess?
Yes indeed, it turned out to be delicious. No, it remained as cohesive as ever. Yay!
Espresso powder is fantastic along with chocolate; I include it in most every brownie recipe. The coffee flavor doesn’t come in strong (I actually hate coffee), but it make the chocolate taste bolder and more nuanced.
Bready or Not Original: Chocolate Chip Espresso Shortbread
Equipment
- two basic 9-inch pie plates
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened, 2 sticks
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place flour, sugar, espresso powder, and salt in mixing bowl; add butter, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix with fingers until dough holds together, then fold in the mini chocolate chips. Once chips are distributed, divide dough into two balls and press each ball into a pan. Flatten evenly with palms and prick surface all over with floured fork. Slash into wedges.
- Bake for 17 to 22 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven. Immediately cut again following slash marks and carefully run the blade around the edge of the crust to loosen the shortbread.
- Let shortbread cool. Cut again along slash marks and the crust, then remove wedges to eat. Shortbread keeps in sealed container for several days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Sable Breton (French Shortbread)
Last month I shared my recipe for Almond Sable. This time I present another French (from Brittany, to be specific) take on shortbread: Sable Breton!
These cookies are much more straightforward than the previous recipe. The ingredients are shortbread basics: butter, sugar, flour.
What sets this apart is, foremost, that it is not as sweet as its counterparts across the channel.
I also recommend that you use a kitchen scale to get that European-style precision–along with actual French butter. President-brand is expensive but widely available, even where I am in Arizona.
These cookies are downright pretty, too, with a crosshatched pattern and an egg yolk wash. They are perfect alongside a cup of coffee or tea!
Modified from the original at Mon Petit Four.
Bready or Not: Sable Breton (French Shortbread)
Equipment
- parchment paper
- small cookie cutter
- food scale
Ingredients
- 200 grams salted butter 1/2 cup plus 5 Tablespoons, President butter recommended
- 120 grams white sugar 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon
- 3 egg yolks divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 280 grams all-purpose flour 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons, plus more if needed to dust work surface
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add two egg yolks and vanilla extract. Add flour until just incorporated.
- Lightly flour work surface and hands. Using rolling pin or hands, press dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.
- Use a small round cookie cutter on dough. Transfer rounds to cookie sheet, spaced out a bit. Use a fork to scratch a crosshatch pattern in the top, like a hashtag with more lines.
- Beat remaining egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush tops of cookies with yolk.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until cookies are a consistent golden color. Transfer to a rack to completely cool.
- Store in a sealed container.
- OM NOM NOM!
