During the holiday season, I make a lot of biscotti. This year was no exception and I started a while ago making up biscotti recipes and testing them for the impending gift giving. Because if a gift is homemade, it feels different. So I always like to give a little something that I have made.
I found this recipe to be interesting...a bit of a departure from the biscotti norm. It's a little more "cakey" than the crumbly dry coffee biscotti, but no one complained. So I've decided it's worth sharing. Because the holidays are coming, and one can never have too many recipes up one's sleeve. So print this one and tuck it into your favorite sleeve.
It's adapted from a recipe my mom tucked into our family cookbook. CLICK HERE for the original. Mine is a bit different in that it's virtually butter less. That's right BUTTER LESS. Except for right at the end. Hey, I said "virtually," not "completely." Also? I used cottage cheese in place of ricotta cheese. which is one of my favorite tricks. (Stay tuned for how I hide it.)
This is gonna hit your sweet spot-- and it's not gonna last long. So prepare yourself for some fun yummy biscotti that disappears before your very eyes!!!
Like most Italian cooking, the ingredients are relatively simple.
Flour, cornmeal, almonds, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, cottage cheese, applesauce, some chocolate chips (I used a mix of white and milk chocolate) and some liqueur--we'll talk about that soon, I promise.
First we are mixing the dry ingredients. Cornmeal....
Flour...
Baking powder....
Now you are just gonna give a little whisk and set it aside.
I have some low fat cottage cheese here. Now you can also use ricotta cheese, but I had this cottage cheese that needed to be used, and so I put it in my food processor and turned it smooooooth. It's a great substitute for the ricotta.
Look at that--I would swear it was ricotta if I didn't know any better. (Which is what you will be saying to yourself.)
Add to it your applesauce and egg...
And vanilla...
And now to this liqueur. I want to tell you a little story of how I came to be in the company of this macadamia nut liqueur because it's a good one. Or a weird one. Same thing, right?
Anyway, years ago my husband and I attended my family reunion in upstate New York. We had a question and answer and prize portion of the family reunion. I guess we answered a question right so we got to pick a present and when we unwrapped it, we had gotten macadamia nut liqueur. Go figure.
Well since that day at the family reunion, this liqueur has been sitting on my bar. You don't have to use this particular liqueur. You can use any liqueur you won during your family reunion. Your choice. Just wanted to make that clear.
Add your weird liqueur.
And your sugar.
And once that is all stirred up and combined, you are ready to tackle adding the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Yep, there it is. Adding that flour in.
And there's a nice dough.
Add some nuts.... and I am not talking about your family...hehe.
And your chips...
I mixed it with my hands. If you choose not to use your hands, it will probably take you a mighty long time to mix it. And anyway hands are the preferred mixer of Italian-Americans everywhere. At least that is what I assume because that has been my experience.
Divide it in half.
And place it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
The parchment paper is optional, of course, but I am an avid use of the stuff. Nothing sticks and that makes me incredibly happy. And unstuck.
You are going to cook these suckers until they are golden brown on top, which was roughly 40 minutes.
Then slice them up.... and bake them again, this time for about 25 minutes.
They will look something like this.
Okay. Remember how I said they were virtually butterless? Yes, this is the part where the butter comes in. I am only using it to get the powdered sugar to stick. SO if you have another solution to getting the powdered sugar to stick, lay it on me! Otherwise, use a small amount of butter, melted, in the microwave.
And the powdered sugar. No measuring. Just pour some on a plate!
Brush your biscotti with butter and then roll it in the sugar.
TA DA! YEA!
The Cannoli Biscotti Express is in, and it's at your kitchen!!!
YUM!
Cannoli Biscotti Recipe
Time: 1 1/2 hrs start to finish | Makes: 12 + biscotti | Difficulty: Medium
You Will Need:
2 cups of flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon liqueur (I used macadamia nut)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used white and milk chocolate)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
small pat of butter
confectioners sugar
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, add your flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. Set aside.
Add your cottage cheese to a food processor and blend until smooth. In a medium mixing bowl, add your applesauce, egg, vanilla extract, liqueur, and processed cottage cheese, and sugar and mix to combine fully.
Begin adding the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal and baking powder) to your wet ingredients (egg, sugar, etc.) and mix until they are fully blended into a dough.
To your dough add the chocolate chips and almonds and mix evenly (with your hands is the best way to accomplish this).
Cut your dough into two even portions and pat each into a "loaf"-- see picture above if you need a little guide on that. Place your portions of dough on your prepared baking sheets and put them in the oven to bake for about 40 minutes or until golden.
Remove them from the oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the loaf into biscotti shapes and place them cut side down on the baking sheet. Allow them to bake another 25 minutes.
Once you have removed them from the oven (and they are fully baked), allow them to cool for a few moments. Then, melt your pat of butter in the microwave and place some confectioners sugar on plate. Using a brush, brush the melted butter onto the crust of the biscotti and them roll it in the confectioners sugar to coat. Repeat with all the biscotti until done.
Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee or cocoa!
