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Cranberry Orange Biscotti

March 27, 2018 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

So, I’m a New England Girl, through and through. Give me your white steepled churches and ancient graveyards, lighthouses, glorious autumns, and all of the goodness that comes with the history of our great nation.

With that, and I’ve blogged about this before, is the amazing tradition of taking a perfectly healthy berry and plunking it down in a dessert. Now, if peanut butter and chocolate are a culinary “Bachelor”, cranberry and orange are the “Bachelorette.” Disclaimer: I don’t watch either show. However, this match of cranberry and orange just work so well together. I am all about being a resident of Massachusetts. We be the cranberry kings. Bring on the cranberries.

In my endeavor to make all of the biscotti, it was inevitable I would find this recipe and attempt it.

Now, in my defense and love of citrus…I did really amp up the orange zest. How does one end up with 1/4 a cup of zest? Easy. You buy a bag of clementines, your mom brings over more clementines, and then, you see Satsumas with their little green leaves at the grocery store and you just have to buy them. Citrus overload. I can’t say I am sorry. We eat a lot of citrus. I need my vitamin C. I work with small children. My teaching table is a Petri dish.

Well, if a clementine gets past it’s freshness it gets hard and almost field hockey ball like. But guess what? That zest is perfect. I also just bought a masticating cold press juicer (who knew this was a thing? it is). Enter more use for citrus but not it’s peel. Aha! Zesting has become pretty regular and normal around my kitchen.

This recipe combines easily and bakes in two stages. It keeps forever in an airtight container. Even though I don’t love white chocolate I think it adds just a little sweet and pretty on the finished cookie. I might make these again with white chocolate chips on the inside of the cookie; give the batter a bonus, and not dip them. Mix it up a bit. I might also make an orange glaze with citrus zest and confectioner’s sugar next time around.

I will be honest and say I do love these biscotti, they are one of the best cranberry orange cookies I have ever had.

If you are a New Englander, you need to make yourself these cookies because they embrace everything that our history holds, (cranberries were even at the first Thanksgiving, remember). If you aren’t a New Englander, you should grab yourself a bag of dried cranberries and try this recipe. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

Print Recipe

This combination of cranberry and orange biscotti with a white chocolate dip makes for the perfect New England biscotti. Recipe adapted from www.yourhomebasedmom.com

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 Cup Butter
6 ounce package of Dried Cranberries (I used Craisins)
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Grated Orange Zest
2 1/2 Cup AP Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350*
Place dried cranberries in a bowl and add boiling water. Let sit for five minutes. Drain well and set aside.
In a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar and orange zest and mix until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time and incorporate.
Add Orange Juice, Baking Powder and Salt.
Add flour until mixed.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into two 4″ x 8″ rectangles with softly rounded edges.
Place on parchment lined or silicone mat lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Allow to cool for ten minutes.
Slice baked logs into one inch slices, on the diagonal, if you desire.
Return cookies to the cookie sheet sliced side up and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool.
Microwave white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, checking frequently to not scorch the white chocolate.
Dip each biscotti into the white chocolate (or drizzle on top) and allow to cool.

Buttermilk Banana Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze

March 14, 2018 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Buttermilk Banana Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze

I have a serious citrus love. From my essential oils in my diffuser or the perfume that I wear, satsuma, sweet orange, lemon, lime, you name it. I am a fan. So, when I spotted a recipe that would incorporate orange and bananas to make a muffin with a sweet orange glaze, I was sold.

All winter long I have purchased bananas for the family, for post work out snacks, to freeze, for smoothies, and to take along in lunch boxes. However, no matter how frequently we eat them, there are always one or two that are too ripe to be anything other than frozen and or made into banana bread/muffins.

I always quest for a muffin that is worth the caloric value. And truthfully, a citrus-y recipe will call out to me. If it incorporates my soon to be expired bananas, I am all in!

This recipe calls for orange zest in both the muffin as well as the glaze. Another very cool thing, if you don’t have buttermilk on hand (I never do) you can make your own with regular milk and vinegar. I know. Cooking and science is amazing. This muffin recipe also calls for both oil and melted butter, which, initially had me wondering if it would be heavy and oily. They are anything but.

These muffins are light and springy, they pop with orange flavor and the glaze…oh, the glaze…I will make this the next time I make cinnamon rolls and take them to the next level.

In this unending winter, a little spot of sunshine and citrus in your morning is absolutely called for. These muffins would be perfect for an Easter Brunch or just for a regular morning treat.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe!

Buttermilk Banana Orange Muffins with Orange Glaze

Print Recipe

Delicious Orange Banana Muffins with an Orange Sour Cream Glaze that is out of this world. Original Recipe posted at www.creationsbykara.com

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1/4 Cup Melted Butter
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
4 Overripe Bananas, mashed
3 Cups AP Flour
2 –3 Tablespoons Orange Rind, Zested

Glaze:

1 1/2 Cups Powdered Confectioner’s Sugar
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
2 Teaspoons Orange Zest

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350*
In a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine eggs, melted butter, oil, buttermilk, mashed bananas, and orange zest.
Add sugar and combine.
Combine Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Slowly incorporate dry ingredients to the mixture.
Fill muffin liners 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 minutes
Combine glaze ingredients.
While muffins are still warm, top with glaze.

Notes

This recipe has more orange zest than the original simply because I can’t get enough! If it is too much, scale back to suit taste.

Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti and Fear of Doing New Things

December 13, 2017 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti

So…true confession, biscotti has always terrified me as a baker.

I know, that sounds foolish, because terrified is a very strong word for a baking adventure, but there it is. It’s a dough that you divide in two and bake all at once, then slice and REBAKE? As in, risk brown bottoms not once but twice? Yeah…hard pass.

In every cookie swap I join, it’s the biscotti I hide for myself. (Come on, you all hide stuff from your children). If I am having coffee at a pastry shop with a friend, the biscotti winks at me and says, “Hey girl, you know you want me to come along. You can dip me in your coffee and my chocolate will get all melty.”

Ok, sorry if I just made biscotti sound like porn or a bad meme. But it’s true. It’s the one cookie I love that I have never made.

Until last night.

At my Library Cook Book Club Cookie Swap (I brought the Dark Chocolate Crinkle Cookies), when I confessed my fear of biscotti, I was challenged by my wonderful cooking friends to try my hand at biscotti for the blog. “A blog challenge if you will.” (I just said that in the Project Runway season sixteen “twins” voice in my head). So I began my research. Turns out, there are a lot of biscotti options out there.

Pleasant surprise, biscotti turns out to be one of the easiest, most beautiful cookies to make, and did I mention easy already? because they are. If you have attempted the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Cookies or the Browned Butter Sea Salt Caramel Cookies, you have already superseded the cookie hard to make expectations.

So, here I am with another major life lesson, you don’t know until you try. Easy to dish out as a parent, not so easy to do as a grownup.

Truth be told I am not good with new or uncomfortable. I am not a fan of icebreakers, I do not like to have to get up and be silly unless it is spontaneous or I initiate it.

I am a team player, I have done fun things like swim with dolphins and ride the slide that goes through the shark tank. We’ve had kitchen dance parties. I’ve been known to see how many different beaches we can walk on in a day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not totally rigid and predictable.

But new things? No. I have a mantra I made for myself years ago when it came to new jobs or adventures, “You can try anything for two weeks.” (then reevaluate the situation to see if it sticks or I was right in my initial mindset of NO). Or in this situation, I could try to make biscotti. I couldn’t really judge how difficult it is until I tried, right?

So, I tried. I selected Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti, because chocolate and orange are two of my favorite flavors. The original recipe from www.portandfin.com seemed pretty straightforward. I switched out the extract and of course added more orange zest. I also used semisweet chocolate because it is what I had in my pantry.

One bowl mix, one stick of butter, about an hour of my life in the kitchen, very little risk.

The dough comes together quickly, and is turned out onto a lightly floured surface and formed into two long rectangles. Then it is baked. Surprisingly the small rectangles not only get bigger but also puffier, which was very cool. I had intended smaller shaped biscotti and ended up with the “normal” sized biscotti.

Let the bars cool for about ten minutes, take out that big knife and slice on the angle. Then place them back on the cookie sheet sideways (middle side up) and bake a second time.

I used parchment paper, and followed the baking time closely. The great thing about biscotti is it is supposed to be a drier cookie. It is also supposed to be more golden than the average cookie, so the fear of brown bottoms has to go. And by brown bottoms I am talking about slightly darker than the cookie itself, not like a burnt sienna crayon.

Once the cookies are done baking a second time and cool, melt that chocolate and dip away.

SO GOOD.

So here’s the funny thing that happened as soon as I bit into my first baked biscotti. All of these memories of biscotti came flooding into my mind.

Like anisette sponge cookies which I think was the closest I can remember to biscotti as a kid.

Like the first time I had biscotti with my dad with coffee like a real grown up.

Or the many conversations over coffee with my good friend Beth and the variety of biscotti she used to have at my disposal, (thanks friend).

Or that one time George and I ran away from home to Newport and got caught in the rain, and bunkered under the porch at The Coffee Grinder on Bannister’s Wharf and sipped our lattes and shared a biscotti. Which, to this day, is one of my favorite moments. (As documented on the Instagram pic below).

Biscotti in the rain with George

I got to thinking, how many other things am I afraid to do that are actually really easy but I’ve built up in my head to be scary (hello spin class/cross fit/trip to Europe/redoing my bathroom on my own/setting down a patio path) that I might be able to do just as easily as bake these cookies? Ok, some things require a professional, but you get my meaning.

All this to say, make the biscotti. You won’t be sad you did.

Bonus: my son, who is currently wrestling and watching everything he eats, ate one and said, “Mom, so good.” Which, as a momma, is the best compliment. Or at least, to me it is.

I might even go as far as to say my baker pride inched up a notch. Which, is good for the soul. Probably not as good as the spin class that I am afraid of and should take would be for my figure, but hey. I’ll take my romance of the biscotti for now. Baby steps and conquering fear and all that.

As an aside, I will also be posting about the Eggnog Biscotti with Rum Drizzle ASAP, as I couldn’t stop with one type of cookie. Because, baker fear issues. I’m also planning a chocolate peppermint biscotti and I probably won’t stop there. I may be slightly obsessed, just saying. That’s what happens when you find yourself newly in love with something or someone. You just have to know more, and biscotti, I am all heart emoji eyes for you.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and sit yourself down with one and a warm beverage of choice, because they are a kick your feet up and enjoy yourself cookie if ever there was one.

Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti

As always, thank you for coming to the table!!!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti

Print Recipe

Delicious Orange Biscotti Dipped in Semi Sweet Chocolate. Original recipe found on www.portandfin.com with some minor changes.

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 Cup (One Stick) of Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Teaspoon Orange Extract (If you don’t have this you can use vanilla or almond)
2 Tablespoons of Orange Juice
3 Tablespoons Orange Zest
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Egg White mixed with 1 Teaspoon of Water (For brushing the dough before first baking)
1/2 Bag of Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate morsels.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325*
using a mixer, combine butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add Orange Zest and combine.
Add Orange Juice, Eggs, and Extract (Orange or Vanilla) and mix until well combined.
Add Baking Powder and Salt.
Slowly incorporate the flour, mixing until just combined. The dough will appear sticky- that’s how you want it.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two portions.
Roll each portion to a rectangle approximately 12 inches long by 4-5 inches wide.
Place each rectangle on a parchment lined baking sheet with a few inches in between (dough will spread and rise as it cooks).
Brush tops of both rectangles with Egg White and Water Mixture
Bake for 30 minutes in 325* oven until lightly golden and firm to the touch.
Cool for ten minutes.
Lower oven heat to 300* at this time.
With a chefs knife or other longer knife, slice through the rectangles on an angle to the size preferred. (I made mine about 3/4″ wide and yielded about 20-24 biscotti).
Stand each slice on its side, (cut side up) and bake at 300* for an additional 30 minutes or until dried and lightly browned.
Let cookies cool completely.
Melt chocolate in microwave or in a double boiler, watching the chocolate doesn’t burn.
Dip biscotti in chocolate or using a knife, spread a layer of chocolate on the biscotti.
Allow chocolate to set, this can be done in the refrigerator or in a cool location.
Store in an airtight container in a cool location.

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

December 11, 2017 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

No New England cookie platter would be complete without something cranberry. Or, I should say, my cookie trays need to have cranberry somewhere. I think, to make a pretty cookie presentation there has to be a mix of colors and textures, and where the sweet has a different twist from one offering to another.

While I am more of a chocolate or salted caramel cookie fan, I do think shortbreads have a place in this world. Especially when they are lightly dusted with sugar, and packed with the sweet tangy punch of cranberries and orange zest.

Cubed Chilled Butter

The tricky part about shortbread cookies is the perfect consistency. Cutting the cold cubed butter into the flour until the dough has a sandy texture, then adding just enough liquid to bring the dough together without being too moist.

Cranberries and Sugar

This recipe has been in my cookie file for a long time, and I do not know where on the internet I found it. I did make some changes, including the amount of orange juice involved. I have in the recipe up to 1/2 Cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (I zested the orange and squeezed it for the juice). I add the juice in tablespoon at a time measurements because it really does depend on the flour and how much liquid the shortbread dough will take to hold together and still be tender. It’s a watch and feel game- you want it to stick together but not be stick-y, ya know?

Shortbread Dough

The cranberries are dried (I used Craisins) and pulsed in a food processor with some sugar and added to the dough. I find the zip of orange and cranberry together add a perky flavor to the otherwise traditionally buttery dough of shortbread.

I’m not going to lie. When it comes to this kind of cookie, I am a believer that more is more. I will always be heavy handed when using zest or something like that. If you find that there is extra zest or an additional 1/4 cup of cranberries, throw them in the dough. The cookies won’t lack for that extra teaspoon of orange zest.

Once the dough comes together, form into logs and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight in parchment or wax paper. The key to this is making sure the wrapper is tightly sealed around the dough. Any open edges, you run the chance of the dough drying out- and this is not the dough to have dry out. (Think play-doh after the lid wasn’t put on correctly).

Once the dough is chilled, slice the logs into 1/4 inch slices (I do not use a ruler for this…no one has time for that). Then coat the disks of dough in sugar, and place on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. (Have I mentioned Santa is bringing me new Silpats? Can’t wait!).

These cookies are tender and so when they are baking- you need to be on it. These cookies are essentially butter, flour, and sugar, with your decorative mix ins. While the butter melts into the dough making light little pockets of air-it can also burn or brown quickly, which, is bad. Unless you like browned bottom cookies, in which case we can’t be friends. (Kidding! I’m kidding…sort of).

Once the cookies have cooled, they will freeze nicely for at least a month, or stay fresh in a sealed container for a few days. Shortbreads don’t have that chewy consistency, but these do hold their own, the buttery base kind of melting in your mouth with the chew of the cranberry.

Personally, I love the way these cookies smell and look more than anything. They smell so citrusy, and the sugar glints off the dough in just the right way…they really are pretty little cookies fit for this New England girl’s table.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy,

Click below for a printable recipe!

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

Print Recipe

Delightfully fresh shortbread cookies with the sweet tart of cranberries and orange zest. Dusted with sugar right before baking.

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1 Cup Dried Cranberries
1 ½ Cup Granulated White Sugar
5 Cups Flour (spooned and leveled- not scooped)
2 Cups Butter, Chilled and Cubed
2 Teaspoons Almond Extract
2 Tablespoons Orange Extract (I used more in my cookies- I love orange zest)
1/4 – 1/2 Cup fresh squeezed orange juice (add by teaspoonful until dough comes together)
Additional Sugar to coat cookies before baking

Instructions

Combine cranberries with ½ Cup of sugar in a food processor and pulse just until cranberries are broken down into smaller pieces and combined with the sugar.
Combine flour and remaining sugar in a different bowl.
Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour and sugar mixture until resembles fine crumbs.
Stir in cranberry sugar mixture, extract, and orange juice by teaspoonful and using hands, knead dough into a ball.
Shape dough into a log, and chill in wax paper or parchment paper (four hours to two days).
Preheat oven to 325*
Slice logs of dough into ¼ inch slices. Coat cookie slices with sugar.
Bake cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set.
Let cookies cool for several minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
Store in airtight container for three days or freeze for up to three months.