My Secret Ingredient

Sometimes kitchen screw-ups turn out for the best.

 

This, my most prized Secret Ingredient-- perfect, delicious, and wonderful beyond measure-- is the byproduct of a failed attempt to candy ginger. I don't really know what went wrong, but in any case the ginger never dried or hardened even after a final toss in sugar, so it got trashed. What remained was a third of a small saucepan of opaque, fragrant syrup. Flavored strongly of ginger with a dainty, almost floral twist lent by the half-a-lemon I thought to include on a whim, this syrup was the perfect mellow sweetness with a playful snap of ginger to finish. More of a nip than a bite.

Inspired by this lovely citrusy, snappy flavor (and the fact that the only junk food I have right now is a tiny box of Wheat Thins and that doesn't even count), I decided to make a batch of Orange Spice biscotti. I said way back when that I had become a believer in these dry, crunchy cookies, so here I'm about to prove it!

My recipe is once again my own. It never fails to excite me to write down my own recipe-- I feel like Julia Child! Once again the basic ingredients are fairly standard and flavors can be altered for individual taste. So here goes:

Orange Spice Biscotti

3 1/4 C flour

1 tbs baking powder

3 eggs

1 C dark brown sugar

1/2 C (one stick) butter

~1 tbs cinnamon

~1 tsp grated ginger

zest of one orange

~1 tbs orange juice (optional)

ginger-lemon syrup (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease two cookie sheets.

Combine flower, baking powder, and sugar. In another bowl, melt the butter and blend in the sugar, orange zest, ginger, and cinnamon. Pour this liquid mixture and crack the eggs into a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Mix well until all the flour is incorporated. If the dough seems too dry to pick up all the flour, add a tiny bit of orange juice and/or ginger syrup just until it comes together.

When the dough is ready, split it in half and mold into two long, broad "loaves" about 1/2 inch thick. It's easiest to do this directly on the cookie sheets. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove the baked loaves from the oven and allow them to cool until they're easily handled. Then, using a sharp, serrated knife, cut slices from both loaves about a 1/2 inch thick. Be careful when cutting the edges of the loaves especially as they will be crunchier and more likely to break-- make sure to use short sawing motions with the knife, the same as you would with bread. Lay the thin slices "raw"-sides-down on the sheets and bake another 10 minutes or so, flipping once, or until the slices look toasted.

One batch makes about this many biscotti:

Probably three to four dozen, depending on how thinly you cut them. Plenty enough to eat yourself, freeze for later, AND give away! And since half of the fun of biscotti is the chocolate coating (oh come on, admit it), you may as well do that too. Simply wait for the biscotti to cool thoroughly, then melt a bag of bittersweet chocolate chips and about a tablespoon of butter (for shininess and smoothness) over low heat. You can either dip the long sides straight into the chocolate or dip half of a short end; both methods are greatly aided by using a rubber spatula to help "paint" on the chocolate. Just arrange the dipped biscotti on metal sheets again to harden. Hint: for faster snacking, put them in the fridge or even freezer.

You could also take a cue from "the PMS bar" and sprinkle a few grains of Kosher or sea salt on the chocolate before it hardens. Especially if you made peanutbuttery biscotti. Oooh....

Paradise.