Sweet treats for the season
By Faith Bahadurian
When I bake around holidays, I look for recipes with interesting flavorings rather than those that are necessarily Christmas themed. Exotic spices, unusual ingredients, they all add to the excitement of holidays, and remind us that Christmas has its roots in far-off cultures, with many recipes arriving here on the crest of numerous culinary diasporas.
In Italy, biscotti refers to any type of cookie (like English “biscuits”), and the recipes in the cookbook “Biscotti” — part of the series from the Rome Sustainable Food Project at The American Academy in Rome — are as varied as the regions of that country. I include a couple recipes from the book below, and will put the book’s recipe for Siena spice cookies on my blog at http://njspice.net, along with a couple others I can’t fit in here.
Blood oranges have become easy to find in recent years. You can candy your own blood orange peel for the chocolate-and-orange cookies below, or buy candied regular orange peel, so reasonably priced at the Amish Market in Kingston. Just remember to include the non-candied blood orange zest, too. (Use the juice in cocktails!)
I’ve been hooked on the bitter almond flavor of Amaretto since my first sip, and while you can’t buy bitter almonds in the U.S (they are toxic in large quantities), you can buy apricot kernels, which have a similar flavor. (I ordered them from amazon.com.)
Another exotic spice used in baking is mahlab, from the St. Lucie sour cherry in the Middle East. The tiny pits are ground for holiday breads like choereg and other treats. You can buy vials of seeds or ground (keep refrigerated) at the Phoenician Bakery in New Brunswick. Here it is used in an elegant shortbread cookie from a nice cooking blog I came across.
Biscotti al Cioccolata e Arancia
(Chocolate and Orange Cookies)
Adapted from “Biscotti,” Mona Talbot and Mirella Misenti, (The Little Book Room, 2011). Makes approximately 50 cookies.
The photograph of these cookies shows they were crusted with coarse sugar before baking, so if you want a sparkly finish do that or roll the log in the sugar before slicing for a sparkly edge. — F.B.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (two sticks) plus 2 teaspoons butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
Grated zest of one blood orange
1 egg plus 1 yolk
1/2 cup candied blood orange peel finely chopped (or sub candied regular orange)
Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium-size bowl. Cream butter, sugar, and orange zest until light and fluffy. Add egg and yolk and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture and peel. Mix at low speed until well combined. Wrap dough in plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and divide in half. Shape into two logs 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Logs can be frozen up to 2 months, wrapped in parchment (or waxed) paper and plastic film.
To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice logs into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place on baking sheet on top of parchment paper, leaving 3/4 inch between. Allow to reach room temperature then bake 7-8 minutes. These are best when freshly baked, but will keep in a container for 2-3 days.
Biscotti Alle Mandorle Amare
(bitter almond cookies)
Adapted from “Biscott. Makes 50 cookies.
3 ounces raw, blanched, bitter almonds (or apricot kernels)
18 ounces raw blanched regular (“sweet”) almonds
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 egg whites
1 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar for coating
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, finely grind bitter and sweet almonds with 2 tablespoons of the sugar, which provides grist and prevents the nuts from becoming an oily paste.
Combine that mixture with the rest of the ingredients, except the confectioners’ sugar, in a medium bowl. Mix with your hands until well combined. The dough should be soft and pliable and hold its shape.
Sprinkle the confectioners’ sugar on a clean work surface. Pinch and roll dough into 50 balls, setting each on the sugar. Roll each ball in the sugar and form into small sticks 2 1/2 inches long and 1/3 inch in diameter. Gently form each stick into the shape of an N. Transfer to sheet pans lined with parchment paper, leaving 3/4 inch between each cookie.
Bake 10 minutes. Turn off heat, open oven door and leave cookies for 2 more minutes to finish baking. They keep well in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
Mahlab shortbread
Adapted from cookalmostanything.blogspot.com. Makes about 3 dozen. The flavor of mahlab is subtle, but don’t add too much because it can have a bitter aftertaste. — F.B.
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rice flour
8 ounces butter, cut into cubes and softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon ground mahlab
Silver dragées, optional
Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy and sugar has been absorbed. Sprinkle in zest and mahlab and beat until incorporated.
Double sift both flours together, then add to butter mixture. Beat at slowest speed until just combined. Tumble the mixture onto a lightly flour board and press together to form a dough. Divide into two.
Using parchment paper or plastic film, form into two logs, twisting ends of paper to seal. Chill until firm.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Unwrap dough and cut into even slices – a scant 1/4-inch thick. Place cookies on parchment-lined baking tray, pressing one dragée into center of each, if using. Bake until firm and just starting to color, about 12 minutes. Let them rest for a few minutes before moving to a rack to cool.
Faith Bahadurian blogs at http://njspice.net (also Twitter @njspice).