Ginger Biscotti

Today marks the official first day back to work for public school teachers in the state of Hawaii.  I swear time just raced by.  It seemed like just the other week I was packing up my room for the summer.

Actually, it's like I went back to work last week.  I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, at work.  I managed to raise my blood pressure to stroke levels on Monday, reminding me that there are some people who really are stupid.  I spent Thursday and Friday at a different school.  Thursday and Friday made me thankful to work where I do.  I saw a shining example of exponential stupidity and was reminded of just how far a surname will get you (related directly to the exponential stupidity).

Circling back to the part about being thankful, I had a parent tell me how grateful and happy she is that I work with her child.  In spite of all the crap happening around me, this was definitely a bright spot.  This is why I do what I do.  This validated my decision to sign up for another tour of duty.  Screw all you haters and doubters. 

There was so much I wanted to accomplish this summer.  I wanted to try out all those recipes I pinned on Pinterest.  I don't think I tried even 3 things.  When I got busy, I always went back to my old stand-bys.  I also wanted to clean my room, but I never got around to that either.  I still have stacks and stacks of magazines along the wall.  I guess I will need to move the cleaning to next summer's to-do list.

A year ago, I made a list of all the things we ate during the summer.  I returned to work (officially) today, so it's only fitting that I make another list. 

• chicken satay
• pasta salad
• danish puff
• shredded mango
• boiled peanuts
• crisp won ton with dipping sauce
• kal bi
• furikake party mix
• furikake salmon
• coconut shortbread cookies
• broccoli bacon pasta salad
• amaretto bread pudding 
• white clam pizza
• beef with asparagus
• peach butter cake
• sesame chicken pasta salad
• warabi kamaboko salad
• ohelo berry cream cheese pie
• tangzhong milk bread rolls
• potato chip cookies
• mini brioche
• cinnamon cranberry bread
• oyster sauce burgers
• sponge drops 
• chicken salad with peanut dressing
• lemon bars
• trix treats
• spicy soybeans
• confetti jello
• ginger biscotti

Per D2, noticeably absent from the list above is lavosh.  She has been bugging me all summer to make lavosh.  First she wanted to take it to her summer program.  Then she wanted to take it with her to Japan/Korea.  When she returned, she wanted to pack it for morning snack at her summer orientation.  I've run out of time.  Lavosh is time-consuming.  I'm hoping she'll be okay with the biscotti I made instead.  It meets all the criteria of lavosh...hard, crispy, makes a great snack.

This is actually the 3rd biscotti recipe I'm posting.  The last biscotti recipe, cranberry orange biscotti,  was perfect for fall.  While I like cranberries and oranges, it's one of the flavor profiles I need to be in a certain mood to want to eat.  If you're going for honesty, then it's the 1st recipe that would be my choice to eat.  Unfortunately, I'm also lazy and don't always feel like watching the butter brown instead of burn then waiting for it to cool before I can proceed with the recipe.  This ginger biscotti recipe is much faster to prepare, and the taste of ginger is timeless.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Ginger Biscotti

     1/2 c butter, softened
     1 c sugar
     2 c flour
     dash salt
     1 tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp almond extract
     1/2 tsp vanilla extract
     2 eggs
     1/2 c nuts
     2 tbsp crystallized ginger pieces
     4 t turbinado sugar or any other coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet or 2 biscotti pans (or line with parchment paper).  Place nuts and ginger into the workbowl of a small food processor.  Process until nuts are chopped small.  Set aside.  Sift flour, salt, and baking powder.  Set aside.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and extracts.  Stir in flour mixture.  Add nuts and ginger pieces.  Shape dough into 2 2"x12" long rectangles.  Sprinkle each rectangle with 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, cut loaves into 1/2" slices.  Place cut side down on cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  Flip biscotti over and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

A whole bunch of my friends and family are well aware of my affinity for Starbucks city mugs.  Melissa, Edz, Mr. Dependable, the Ds, LA, The Help and Brucie have helped me grow my collection.  This summer, the Ds got me a mug from Busan, South Korea and Brucie got me a bunch of mugs from Europe.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Brucie is whom I wanna be when I grow up.  He lives in a gorgeous oceanfront luxury mansion (I'm talking celebrity-quality), complete with German guard dog.  He has traveled in style all over the world.  He even has the bragging rights to say he lived in Austin (my dream city. . .everyone knows how much I love Texas).  The mug holding the biscotti in the picture at the top of the page is from Brucie's previous trip to London.  Thank goodness for good friends (and kids)!

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was so close!  I saw some kind of Taste of Home post on Facebook and I had to actually run to the calendar to see for myself.  No shit!!!

The work week this week is only 3 (2 by the time this is published) days, but short weeks tend to drag on, and the kids are totally gone.  Adults too.

But in a few days it will be Thanksgiving, and that gives me something to look forward to.  Its not just the break from work.  I love Thanksgiving food.  I love all the white meat from the turkey and all that you can do with the leftovers. The other big deal about Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce.  I love cranberry sauce, and I think Williams-Sonoma makes the best.  I need to check the pantry to see if I have any left.  One year, I made my own cranberry sauce, and it was unreal sour.  Since then, I've left the cranberry sauce to the experts.

It doesn't seem right to have cranberry sauce outside of the holiday season, so I don't make anything with cranberry sauce beyond the holidays, however dried cranberries are fair game year-round.  I keep a Costco-sized bag of dried cranberries on hand.  The Ds sprinkle li hing mui powder on it and eat it as a snack.  I love to use dried cranberries in recipes as a substitute for raisins.

While cranberry orange biscotti recipes abound, the recipes I tried lacked orange flavor.  Bummer.  In my experiments with biscotti making, I came across a recipe which included a topping.  After tinkering with the ingredients, I came up with a recipe which has the pronounced orange flavor I was looking for - its in both the biscotti and the topping.  In addition to cranberries and orange flavor, this biscotti gets its crunch from chopped marcona almonds. 

This biscotti is a little trickier to make than my previous biscotti recipe because of the baked-on topping.  This biscotti needs to be sliced very carefully with a serrated knife.  Using too much pressure will cause the topping to pop off.   I suppose you could leave the topping off, but the orange flavor would be less prominent.

just after the first bake

slicing biscotti using a serrated knife

getting ready for the second bake

 click on recipe title for printable recipe.
Cranberry Orange Biscotti

     1/4 + 2/3 c sugar, divided

     2 tbsp + 1 tsp orange juice, divided

     6 tbsp butter, softened

     zest of 1 orange

     2 eggs

     1/2 tsp almond extract

     1/2 tsp vanilla extract

     2 c flour

     1 tsp baking powder

     1/2 c dried cranberries, chopped

     1/2 c marcona almonds, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine 1/4 c sugar and 1 tsp orange juice.  Mixture will be rather dry.  Set aside.  Grease 2 biscotti pans or line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cream butter and remaining 2/3 c sugar.  Add 2 tbsp orange juice, zest, eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Add cranberries and nuts.  Shape dough into 2 2" wide rectangles in/on prepared pan(s).  Using half of sugar/orange juice mixture for each loaf, pat onto top of each rectangle, taking care not to spill any on baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, slice 1/2" on the diagonal.  Place on a cut side and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  Flip over to other side and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE:  Cranberry Orange Biscotti would make an excellent snack for Black Friday shopping, that is, if you choose to indulge in that sport.  After the stampeding sounds in Wal-Mart last year, I will be staying home.  There is no need for me to be in the throng of people.  I'm sure the Ds will be home too.  I know neither were happy last year.  I just hope Kikukat Mom's curiosity about Black Friday shopping was cured last year too. 

Back To Work

I feel like I've been gone for a while so thought I'd post something and tell you why I've been semi-neglecting this blog.  As you know, this is the first REAL summer vacation I've had in nearly a decade, and in spite of nearly 20 years in the DOE, this might be just my 3rd summer where I've really had a vacation.  Vacation has been nice, but part of my time was spent wondering what to do.  Of course, the kids helped answer that question with all my chauffeuring duties.

About a month ago, I got a call from my new boss lady, "asking" me if I was interested in going to Honolulu to attend a Model Schools Conference.  Some of you may remember this conference, as a few years ago, the Hawaii school superintendent got in major kim chee for allowing LOTS of Hawaii teachers to attend this conference in Orlando, Florida.  This year's Model Schools Conference was held in Honolulu@Hilton Hawaiian Village (conference room rate of $149), so I saw it as an opportunity for several things:  ho'olauna w/boss lady, hooking up with some great friends, eating ono food, and, my ultimate favorite, SHOPPING.

The timing of Model Schools Conference coincided with the end of D2's Summer Academy.  I was a little disappointed because I had been on her all summer to complete her work, and I didn't want to let up in the last week.  D2's teacher and I had built a very trusting relationship over the summer, and I wanted to send her the message that I was there to support D2.  But with work calling, I put my trust into my parents' hands.  Not gonna say much about how that went.  If you know my parents, you can pretty much guess what happened there.

Anyway, in the flurry of emails which went back and forth between me and D2's teacher was the request (from the teacher) for me to share my Browned Butter Biscotti recipe with her.  D2 had taken a few pieces to school for her, and she thought her parents would enjoy having some with their coffee.  I assured her that while the recipe seemed complicated, the end product would be well-worth it.

The basic process for making biscotti is to place your dough in a straight line of even thickness.  This is easiest done with a template.  Trace a long rectangle on parchment paper, then turn the paper over and follow your marked rectangle when placing the dough.







Also try to get the dough to an even height.  This ensure a nice, even log after the first bake.

Using a serrated knife, slice the baked logs on the diagonal just as soon as the logs are cool enough for you to handle.  If you let them cool too much, slicing will be more difficult.    Place each piece on its side for the 2nd bake. 

Remove them from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 

WARNING:  These will disappear in no time.