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Be Sweet to Your Colleagues with #cookiesandkindness : Bake and Share Breakfast Biscotti from Dorie’s Cookies

Biscotti are perfect share-cookies: one recipe makes lots of cookies.  And because they’re good keepers, they’re perfect to have on hand when you and your workmates need a pick-me-up (or something to perk-up a looooong meeting).  I created these as breakfast cookies, terrific to dip in coffee, tea or milk even after breakfast-hour is long gone.

This is the second recipe from my new book, Dorie’s Cookies, for the #cookiesandkindness project.  

The aim: To make the world sweeter.

The method:  Bake/Share/Post

Bake a batch of cookies, share them and then post what you bake and share.  Take your post #cookiesandkindness and tag me @doriegreenspan and #Dories_Cookies if you want me to see what you’ve done.

And if you want to get tags and stickers to doll up your packages, you can download them here.

Here are some tips for making these biscotti:

Granola is one of the ingredients that makes these biscotti so special – choose a granola that doesn’t have fruit, or make sure that any fruit in the granola is soft: shriveled, dried fruit won’t plump during baking; it’ll just get drier.

Shape the dough by hand into two logs – each one just a few inches from the long side of a baking sheet. Don’t worry if they’re ragged, they’ll be fine.

After the first bake, let the biscotti cool for about 30 minutes – they’ll be easier to cut.

Cut the cooled logs using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion and nibble whatever tidbits might break off (as some inevitably will).

Bake the cookies for another 25 minutes or so – it’s this second bake that makes the cookies biscotti (or twice-baked cookies).

Don’t wrap the biscotti airtight – a covered container will do the trick; it’s even fine to leave them out in the open. The drier they get, the better they are for dunking.

Photograph by Davide Luciano for Dories Cookies

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Breakfast Biscotti

From Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2016)

Makes about 40

 

2 cups (272 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 stick (8 tablespoons; 4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature

¾ cup (150 grams) sugar

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

Grated zest of 1 orange or tangerine (optional)

2 large eggs, at room temperature

⅓ cup (30 grams) old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking)

1 cup (110 grams) granola (see above)

¼ cup (about 35 grams) almonds (whole or slivered, blanched or unblanched), coarsely chopped

¼ cup (30 grams) plump, moist dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon (if you’re using it) and baking soda together.

Working in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt and citrus zest, if you’re using it, on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each one goes in. (Don’t be discouraged if the mixture curdles at this point.) Beat in the oats and scrape the bowl again. With the mixer off, add the dry ingredients all at once. Pulse the mixer a couple of times and then beat on low speed until the flour is almost incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, add the granola, almonds and cranberries and mix on low only until blended into the dough.

Turn the dough out and divide it in half. Put each piece a few inches away from one of the long sides of the baking sheet—leave room between the pieces, because they’ll expand in the oven. Use your fingers and a spatula to shape each piece of dough into a rectangle that’s 10 to 12 inches long and about 1½ inches wide. The logs will be ragged and rough, but that’s fine.

Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after about 15 minutes; the logs should be cracked and lightly browned but still squeezable. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the logs rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

If you have turned off your oven, bring it back to 350 degrees F.

Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, cut into ½-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet—placing them up cut side down in rows—and slide the sheet back into the oven. Bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes. Pull the sheet from the oven, flip over the biscotti and bake for about 10 minutes more, until they are a golden brown and almost firm to the touch—they’ll get harder as they cool. Transfer them to racks to cool completely.

Storing: These will keep for at least 5 days at room temperature in a covered container. You can even leave them out in a basket—if they get a little hard, just dip them a little longer in whatever you’re sipping along with them.