white chocolate cardamom biscotti

white chocolate cardamom biscotti: "

Biscotti and I are good friends. I make it often and it's the one thing I bake thinking only about what I want to eat. I don't worry if anyone else will eat it or like it. It's my cookie. So, if people in the house do like it, awesome, but if not, I don't worry about grumblings or complaints if the flavors are considered, not awesome—which is what they are sometimes referred to as.

These are whole wheat cardamom with white chocolate chips. I love them so much. With coffee, of course. I have tried many biscotti recipes and I have found that I like them to have whole eggs, but not a lot of fat. Like almost none, actually. They don't stay crisp as long with fats or oils in them and are so good without them, I don't see the need to add any. So, I don't. Saying that, these are very crunchy and dry and need to be dipped in coffee, tea, or hot cocoa to avoid a chipped tooth. They are not at all like the cookie-style of biscotti that have 6 tablespoons of butter in them.

my basic recipe (altered from various cookbooks so long ago I have no idea where to credit it now because I have it on a post-it)

• 2 cups flour (I often use half white and half whole wheat)


• 1 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• a dash of milk if for some reason the dough is so dry it won't form a good log—which occasionaly happens to me. But then other times it's really wet, so who knows.

I then add extracts, spices, and add-ins as needed. For these I used 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.

I mix this all up and make 2 logs and flatten them. They should be about 3 inches wide by about 10 inches long. Bake about 25 minutes at 350 degrees and then let them cool about 15 minutes. Lower the oven temp to 325 degrees, and cut the biscotti in 1 inch slices (I like them thick. A good serrated knife and a light hand are crucial.) and then bake again about 15 more minutes (I vary this depending on how crunchy I want them) flipping the cookies over halfway through.

some of my favorite variations

• lime zest with vanilla


• candied ginger


• espresso (instant powder) and chocolate chip


• cinnamon and chopped almond


• dried cranberry and orange rind


• orange rind and chocolate chip


• chocolate with mint chocolate chips


• gingerbread spice

For chocolate dough, I usually add 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder and decrease the flour by 1/4 cup. The girls, desperate for cookies, are actually starting to like most of these, which I find amusing. It's amazing what one will to for a cookie. They dip theirs in milk.

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