Hey lovely bakers ! Hope you all are good . December is here and its always a good time. Festive spirit is in the air. Some birthdays in the family in the month and the excitement of a fresh year just around the corner!
Tis the time to be merry ! And Tis the time to bake some cookies !
Biscotti are perfect December cookies. They go great with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate when there is a nip in the air. They are sturdy enough to pack and ship as gifts . And they last forever!
And they are pretty easy to flavour too. While I will admit I am partial to my dark chocolate and coffee biscotti , this time around I wanted to try an ingredient thats a near stranger on this blog.
Peanut butter ! I was well into my 30 s before I had my first taste of peanut butter. And I literally have no opinion on it. Not sure if I like it or not . What about you ? Fan of peanut butter ? Or not so much ?
Either ways, these biscotti warrant a try ! A generous handful of prunes add some visual interest and pleasant contrast in taste . And also make these more Christmas y ? I got the base recipe from Tracey’s culinary adventures.
Biscotti are a lot more time and labour intensive than most cookies ! As the name itself suggests ( if you speak Italian !), the cookie is twice baked.
The dough is first shaped into a log and baked for half hour. Then sliced and then baked again to dry out and crisp up the cookies.
And crispy and crunchy they are ! Plus the mellow flavors of peanut butter with interspersed tartness when you encounter the prune bits. Not overly sweet , quite Dunkable.
Peanut butter and prune biscotti
Ingredients
- 90 grams or 6 tablespoon peanut butter ( crunchy or smooth)
- 42 grams or 3 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature
- 100 grams or 1/2 cup castor or granulated sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 190 grams or 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup prunes
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F . Line a cookie sheet with parchment
- In a bowl, whisk together flour , baking powder and salt. Keep aside
- In another bowl , beat together the peanut butter, butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs , ONE BY ONE, and beat well until incorporated
- Beat in the vanilla
- Add the flour mixture and beat until a dough forms.
- Add the chopped prunes and mix into the dough.
- Shape the dough into one log around 8 X 3 inches ( or 2 logs if you want shorter cookies).
- Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake at 180 C / 350 F for 30 minutes
- Take the sheet out and cool for 10 minutes . Leave the oven on.
- Using a knife, cut 1 inch thickness slices from the log.
- Place the slices on the parchment . There is no need to leave space in between as they wont expand anymore.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the slices around ( so the surface earlier facing up now lies down on the parchment ) and bake for 10 more minutes , or until completely hard.
- Cool on wire rack.
Notes
So what do you think? Will these find a way into your cookie jar ?
Check out the video for this recipe !
