I had to re-post this in honor of the return of fall.  Welcome October!  I can’t wait to get my hands on the pumpkins growing in our little garden.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1  cups firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see  below for substitution)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup melted white chocolate, for drizzling or dipping (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*F.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; stir well. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla, stirring well with a wire whisk. Slowly add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Mixture will be very crumbly; it will gradually become moist after stirring.)

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 portions. Lightly flour hands and shape each portion into a 2 x 10″ long log. (Or I just made one large 8″ x 16″ log.) Place logs 3″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes.  Cool logs for 10-15 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 300 F.

After cooling, move a loaf to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1/2″ thick pieces. The interior of each biscotti should still be just a little moist, with the crust of the loaf hard.

Place the biscotti with a cut side facing up on a half sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pan and flip all the biscotti over so the other cut side is now facing up. Bake for another 8 minutes. Set all the pieces on a wire rack to cool making sure that none of the biscotti are touching each other.

Once the biscotti have fully cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate.  Microwave chips for 1 minute on 70{6a79f8b483379a07c99b49f3ac110091f25498c816895d3835c84435c153d1be} power.  Drizzle looks best when a fork is dipped in the melted chocolate and then dripped over biscotti.

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute in:

• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Copyright 2012   Andi Brown,  Once in a Lifetime Travel

The post White Chocolate Pumpkin Biscotti Recipe appeared first on Italy Travel Planner | Consultant | Once In a Lifetime Travel.

I made these for Valentines Day for the family.  They are delicious, best with a bowl of ice cream or a glass of dessert wine.  Definitely not something you will find on your trip to Italy.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 – 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 jar of red food coloring (you will need 2 bottles if using the liquid kind you find at the grocery store)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

*Don’t freak out, there is no butter in this recipe*

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350°.

2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, food coloring, baking powder and salt.

3. Lightly beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add to flour mixture and mix until combined. I found this recipe was very crumbly, so I would not add the full 3 cups of flour unless it is really doughy.

4.  Fold in white chocolate chips.

5. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, form each half into a log that is 3½ inches by 9 inches. Place the logs on a heavy-duty baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops are set.

6. Reduce the oven to 300°. Let the logs cool (this is a crumbly recipe so the longer you let the logs cool the better and easier it will be to cut without breaking), then slice into 1/2-inch thick slices.  With this recipe it is very important to let them cool otherwise it will crumble when cutting.  Arrange the slices on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, carefully turn the slices over, and bake for another 8 minutes.

7. Cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container or freeze.

Copyright 2012   Andi Brown,  Once in a Lifetime Travel

The post Red Velvet Biscotti Recipe appeared first on Italy Travel Planner | Consultant | Once In a Lifetime Travel.