Spiced Biscotti

Ingredients
2 ¹⁄₄ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
¹⁄₄ teaspoon white or black pepper, ground
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground cloves
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground ginger
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
¹⁄₂ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350*F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with cooking spray. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Whisk the sugar, eggs, and yolks in a large bowl to a light lemon colour; stir in the vanilla extract. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the egg mixture, and then fold in until the dough is just combined.

3. Halve the dough and turn each portion onto the prepared baking sheet. Using floured hands, quickly stretch each portion of dough into a rough 13 by 2-inch loaf. Place the loaves about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet; pat each one smooth. Bake until the loaves are golden and just beginning to crack on tp, about 35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place it on a wire rack.

4. Cool the loaves for 10 minutes. Carefully transfer the loaves to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut each loaf into ³⁄₈-inch-thick slices. Lay the slices about ¹⁄₂ inch apart on the baking sheet, cut-side up, and return them to the oven. Bake, turning over each cookie halfway through baking, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a wire rack and cool completely. (They can be stored in an airtight container up to 1 month.)

Comments
I wasn’t sure what to serve as dessert with my loosely Italian-themed meal, so I turned to The New Best Recipe for inspiration.  I found this recipe for biscotti and decided to give it a go.  All of the spices reminded me of pumpkin bread as well as chai and I was pretty happy with the results.  

Biscotti are very hard, so be sure to serve them with something for dunking.  We had coffee and green tea, but I think that a black tea would have worked really well with this spice combination and milk would have been nice as well.  Make sure that they’re completely dry before sealing in a container, otherwise the residual moisture will be damaging.

The New Best Recipe