Holiday Flavors Spice up a New Biscotti

I’m not ashamed to admit that winter is my least favorite season. One frustration is shoveling out my car only to have it not start anyway. In winter there is also the constant back and forth of freezing when outside, but sweating when inside. Then there are the foggy glasses. I could go on.…

However, there is one thing I look forward to this time of year: Eggnog lattes, peppermint cookies, pumpkin pie – I just can’t get enough of the holiday flavors. I love finding new ways to incorporate them into my baking and cooking.

The recipe I want to share with you – Gingerbread White Chocolate Biscotti – combines more than a few of my favorite things. In my opinion, ginger is one of the most versatile spices. It goes great with savory soups, spicy curries and sweet cookies. On top of that, who doesn’t love cookies and chocolate?

Biscotti look elegant and, although it requires a few steps in the baking process, it really is an easy cookie to make.

Start by preheating your oven to 325°F. Mix together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking powder and cloves in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat together butter, sugar and salt. Add molasses and eggs and beat until well-mixed.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat at low speed until fully incorporated. I mixed it a bit with the beater turned off just to help eliminate any chance of “spraying” flour all over the kitchen.

Add the chopped crystallized ginger and mix well. Crystallized or candied ginger is fresh gingerroot that has been cooked in sugar syrup and coated with coarse sugar. You can find it in the spice aisle of many grocery stores or in specialty spice stores. It comes in varying sizes of “crystals.”

Shape the dough into 2 (10x2-inch) logs onto an ungreased baking sheet. Don’t worry if the dough looks like it might be too wet to shape. Once you start to work with it, you’ll feel that although it is sticky, it holds its shape well.

Bake the loaf 25 minutes and then cool for 10 minutes. Transfer the loaves to a cutting board and make 3/4-inch thick slices diagonally with a serrated knife.

Place the cookies back on the baking sheet with the cut-side down. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. Flip the cookies over and bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool the cookies completely.

Melt the white chocolate according to the instructions on the packaging. Dip the ends of the cookies into the chocolate and place onto parchment paper until the chocolate is set. Be sure to shake off the excess chocolate when dipping. If not, the chocolate will be too thick and will pool on the parchment paper.

If you are having trouble dipping the cookie because your bowl is too shallow, just tilt the bowl!

I arranged my cookies in a circle on a plate to look like a holiday wreath. Serve with some hot chai or enjoy them as they are!

I hope you’ll try this new Gingerbread White Chocolate Biscotti and that you’ll come back and let me know what you think!

This article was written by Rebecca A., an employee in the Land O’Lakes Test Kitchen.