chocolate base. That did not work for me. I persevered and finished the experiement. They looked all right, but messy to eat, so I won't be sharing... 
Otherwise, I made the biscotti and crumb cake that I wanted to make. I did not get to the coconut macaroons. Maybe next week. Oh, and I haven't coooked any real food.
I also made pancakes from a recipe from AllRecipes.com called Truck Stop
Buttermilk Pancakes. Oh, these were good. I made 1/5th of the recipe
and added a little vanilla. They were very light and fluffy. Yum!
I have made several of the biscotti recipes from this book (Biscotti by Lou Seibert Pappas) and today the one I hadn't tried before turned out more cake like and didn't get very crisp. They still taste good though. These were the cinnamon ones. The chocolate ones turn out good. The chocolate didn't call for butter where the other one did.
Swedish Cinnamon Slices
2/3 cup blanched slivered almonds
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
½ tsp almond extract
2 ¾ cups unbleached or all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp soda
¼ tsp salt
Place nuts in a shallow pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool. In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream and almond extract. In a bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture, mixing until blended. Fold in nuts. Divide dough in half. On a greased and floured baking sheet pat out into two logs about ½ inch high, 1 ½ inches wide, and 15 inches long, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake in the middle of a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the baking sheet to a rack. Let cool for 5 minutes. Place on a cutting board. With a serrated knife slice diagonally at a 45 degree angle about ½ inch thick. Place the slices upright on the baking sheet ½ inch apart
and return to a 325 degree oven for 10 minutes longer to dry slightly. Let cool on rack. Store in a tightly covered container.
Makes about 3 ½ to 4 dozen
Changes I made to this one: I added cinnamon chips and cappaccino chips to half the dough
Biscotti al Cioccolato
¾ cup hazelnuts
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
1 ¾ cups unbleached or all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp powdered coffee
1 tsp baking soda
Dash of salt
Place nuts in a shallow pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. While still warm, rub nuts between a double layer of paper towels to remove the papery skins. Let cool. In a small bowl beat eggs, vanilla and almond extract with a wire whisk. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, coffee powder, baking soda and salt. Add egg mixture and mix until blended, about 1 minute. Fold in the nuts. Divide dough in half. On a greased and floured baking sheet, pat out dough into two logs about ½ thick, 1 ½ inches wide and 12 inches long, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake in the middle of a preheated 300 degree oven for 50 minutes or until set and baked through. Transfer from the baking sheet to a rack. Let cool 5 minutes. Place on cutting boar. With a serrated knife slice diagonally at a 45 degree angle about ½ inch thick. Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet and return to a 275 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning them over once, to dry slightly. Let cool on rack. Store in a tightly covered container.
Chocolate glaze variation: Coarsely chop 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and place in a small bowl that fits snugly over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Heat until melted. Stir to blend. Or place chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave on medium for 2 minutes or until chocolate melts. Stir to blend. With a spatula spread chocolate over entire top surface of cookies. Let cool at room temperature until set.
Makes about 3 ½ dozen
I didn't really change anything to this recipe, except I do stand the biscotti upright when drying so to not have to flip them over. Also, as far as the nuts go, I buy the ones now that are ready to bake with so those first steps aren't that necessary. When I first bought the book over 10 years ago, hazelnuts weren't readily available around here and when I did find them they were whole and all those steps had to be taken. Thank goodness that is not the case anymore.
I also tried the Martha Stewart recipe for NY Crumb Cake. It turned out pretty well, but I wanted more cinnamon flavor. We'll see what the reviews are tomorrow from my coworkers. I was suprised that the cake part of the recipe was very dough like. I expected it to be more like a cake batter, so that threw me off. Now I know.
New York Crumb Cake(from Martha Stewart)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg
½ cup milk (lowfat is fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 325F and grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, canola oil, and vanilla.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and spread into pan (you might want to grease your spatula). Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon (and allspice, if using). Pour melted butter over flour mixture, and stir with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Spread evenly over batter in pan.
Bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes, rotating once, until a tester comes out clean.
Cool completely on a wire rack before serving in large pieces.
Makes 12 servings.
I'm learning a lot though. Pictures and recipes to come...
