Sunday, September 26, 2010

i try baking biscotti


Now I'm not a master chef. I probably never will be. But I can certainly try!

I love biscotti. I eat it like chips. Considering it has very basic ingredients and a relatively straightforward method it is quite expensive to buy. In terms of biscuit it is relatively good for you because it has no butter.
I've been known to stray from recipes. Sometimes intentionally (add a little more of that, replace this with that) and sometimes unintentionally (oh, it said 1 teaspoon of baking powder). Here I've adapted a recipe from Super Food Ideas Magazine. And the great thing is you can substitute the apricots for any dried fruit (figs, cranberries, strawberries, raisins, dates, etc) and you can use whatever nut you prefer!

1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 and 2/3 cup wholemeal plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
3/4 cup almonds, (coarsley chop 1/3)
3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
Preheat oven to 180 degrees/160 degrees fan-forced. Line two trays with baking paper.
Whisk eggs and sugar together. Add all remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Knead on a lightly floured surface till smooth.
Shape dough into two 30cm logs, flatten slightly. Place on trays and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool on trays for 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 140 degrees/120 degrees fan-forced. Using a serrated bread knife slice logs diagonally into 5-10mm thick slices. Ticker or thinner if you prefer. Lay on trays in single layer and bake for 5-10 minutes each side or until crisp.
Cool on wire rack.
Warning: totally addictive!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Welcome welcome

Well, I try a lot of things. Sometimes I am successful but sometimes I fail spectacularly. This blog chronicles all my tryings!