BAKING,  COOKIES,  DESSERTS

NUT, SEED & RAISIN BISCOTTI…Preciously jeweled cookies!

2009/04/06 / 34 Comments
“Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who decided to stand their ground.”
Unknown

Collages37 2

Doing rounds of blogs is never easy when you have to run a regular life too, full of routine stuff like laundry, grocery & school trips galore. Junior goes to a new grade in another week, so half the days were scheduled with PTA’s, orientations, new books & uniforms etc. The past week has been even more hectic with the kids at home (Spring Break), & I’ve had little or no time to blog hop. 2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle17One blog that I often attempt to stop at is Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks because it’s always got some path breaking stuff that you get hypnotized to try. The pictures are mesmerising, & the gentle persuasive nature of her posts have you literally eating off her blog. The ‘Nut & Seed Biscotti‘ or jewelled biscotti was such one case which I chanced by about a month ago. Heidi posted a ‘cracker’ of a biscotti, the ‘Nut & Seed’ Biscotti which looked very pretty & maybe easy to slice thin, or so I thought. 2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle14Should have known better, because nuts are nuts after all, but she had me chopping the nuts of my bookmarked recipe at a frantic pace the next morning after the kids left for school. The recipe itself is simple & ‘packed with nuts’…very jewel studded indeed, like the Queen’s crown. However, it wasn’t as simple to slice thinly as the jewels had a mind of their own. I managed fairly well, but didn’t get anywhere close to the thin, gorgeous slices that Heidi did. 2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle22Maybe it was because I added raisins too, or my knife wasn’t good enough, or the loaf was undercooked, though it tested done. As Helen says in the recipe “Bake for 45-50 minutes – or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult.” I shall definitely give this a try again as it was deliciously studded & very YUM! Healthy & hugely successful with the kids too. 2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle6
My nut mixture was a blend of 1 cup lightly toasted almonds, 1/3 cup each of lightly toasted pistachio nuts, and pumpkin seeds, and 1/2 a cup each of green & black raisins. We don’t get wholewheat pastry flour here, so I used a third cup of oatmeal flour. 2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle20NUT, SEED & RAISIN BISCOTTI
adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup oatmeal flour
2 cups mixed nuts,raisins etc (almonds, pistachio nuts, pumpkins seeds, green & black raisins)
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup light brown sugar, fine grain
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Collages38

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 150C. Lightly butter or oil a 1-pound loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
  • Combine the flour, nuts and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl whisk together eggs and sugar.
  • Add the flour-nut mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be quite thick. Scoop into the prepared pan and press the dough into place using damp fingertips.
  • Make sure everything is nice and compact, level on top, with no air bubbles. (I sprinkled some left over oatmeal flour on top).
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes – or until the loaf tests done. If you under-cook the loaf at this stage, it makes slicing difficult. Collages39
  • Remove loaf from the oven, and turn the oven up to 220C.
  • Immediately run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the loaf, remove it from pan, and set the loaf upside down on a cutting board. Using a thin serrated knife (or the thinnest, sharpest knife you have), slice the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices.
  • Place the slices on a baking sheet. brush tops with a bit of olive oil and bake for 3-4 minutes or until the bottoms are a touch golden and toasty. Pull them out of the oven, flip each one, and brush the other side with olive oil. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or until nice and crisp. Let cool.
  • Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen.2009 03 17+bugs,jewelled+biscotti,+trifle19

Another recipe for Bookmarked Recipes, an event started by Ruth @ Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments. This week’s host is Laurie @ Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

bookmarked This post featured on

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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