Trick-or-treat Biscotti

As an Italian I love biscotti, I have an affinity for any dessert that has almond in it to be honest. This treat is nothing less than a delicious Halloween twist on a traditional Italian almond biscotti using candy corn instead of slivers of almonds. The mix of the crunch of the cookie and then the chew of the candy corn is delightful to eat. Maybe you can make these and have them with your morning tea, or just offer them as a lovely treat for when people come to visit, but try them and you will not be disappointed. So celebrate the 10^th day of Halloween with our trick-or-treat candy corn biscotti!

Ingredients:
¾ cup candy corn
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Start by preheating oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and a little bit of flour.

Set aside all of your ingredients and most importantly chop up your candy corn into small pieces. In a small bowl whisk the eggs with the vanilla and almond extracts. In a large bowl whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the chopped almonds. Then add the egg mixture and stir until a dough forms.

 Divide the dough in half, and on a lightly floured surface roll each half into logs about twice as long as wide. Place the logs on the baking sheet next to each other and bake for about 25 minutes or until they are firm until the touch. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Next move the logs to a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut logs into slices about 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices of biscotti on a new baking sheet and bake about 10-15 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until firm to the touch. If you want them extra crunch, bake longer, and don’t be alarmed by the candy corn running. Remove from oven and let cool, if parchment sticks just peel it off. Let cool, and serve with tea, hot chocolate, or just eat!!!!

Boo-tastic Spicy Shortbread Cookies

I must say that I am incredibly obsessed with Halloween and have essentially sucked Michael into (whether he likes to or not) loving it with me. My birthday being October 21^st it is only natural that I have this crazy obsession because since I was little I have had many Halloween birthday parties. That being said, this is the first of 13 posts that we will give you, day one being actually Halloween day.

For our first post, we give you some boo-tastic shortbread cookies. We are both lovers of shortbread because of its beautifully rich and buttery taste. When we were thinking of what to do, and thinking how shortbread is the easiest dough to color in section with food coloring and not have the colors bleed, and what would then make our recipe differ from the rest, shablam, Michael said it, why not make these a bit savory and spicy. So try out shortbread cookies with its buttery taste and the ever so wonderful spicy kick at the end, being sure to send a warm feeling to you on the spooky nights to come.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
 2 tablespoons coarse sanding sugar
1 tsp. cayenne
Food coloring

 

First preheat oven to 325 and get all of your tools out and ingredients measured out. When we bake we have everything pre measured, because it makes life so much easier and keeps you from getting all your ingredients dirty and your kitchen from become a baking mess.

Most recipes call for an electric mixer with a paddle, but we used a spatula just fine. So using the spatula cream together butter and sugar, mix in vanilla, and then add flour and cayenne slowly in portions. Because there is no egg, you can try the dough to see if there is enough spice, you want to barely taste it, because when you bake it the flavor will intensify.

Once mixed well, portion the dough into three sections preparing to add the food coloring. For yellow, just use yellow, for orange use red and yellow, and for white use nothing. It took me about 6 drops of food coloring to get the intensity I like, so do accordingly.

Now that all of your colors are mixed lay out in the shape of a rectangle, starting with yellow, then laying out on top of that orange, then on top of that white. Using a sharp knife cut a 2 inch wide log cutting through all the colors, so essentially you have a two inch thick about 8 inch long strip of dough, no lay on its side and cut little triangles out. Using your fingers you can round the corners a little and then lay on a greased baking sheet. Repeat the steps until you use up all the dough.

Bake for about 20 minutes, you want the dough to start to harder a little and pull it out before it starts to turn a golden brown. The cookies will blow out of shape a bit, which is fine because these are meant to be spooky, and they will harden while cooling. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then dig in! These delightful cookies will be sure to bring great joy to all who come to play tricks on you.