Entering the Christmas holiday season, a Covid state of emergency issued within Alberta, we decided that we all could use some good news these days. With a little more time again at home, lets get baking!
We already have an incredible gluten free gingerbread recipe on our blog for houses and cookies, but we decided to add another dimension to the gingerbread. Gingerbread Biscotti! You and the kids will love this treat…perfect for hot chocolate or days when you’re drinking a little something “stronger”…
Our recipe is a traditional gingerbread dough that’s baked slightly crisp on the outside and then the tiniest bit soft in the center to create a heavenly biscotti!
The best news is that our genius didn’t stop there! Lol. We decided that we could amp up this amazing biscotti even more and called our friends at Cococo Chocolatiers. We enrobed our gluten free gingerbread biscotti in their luxurious semisweet chocolate couverture baking bar and then added fresh chopped pistachios for some festive color. The result is absolutely amazing!!
In true CUT form, we have developed this recipe to be easy and accessible. It’s not difficult and the dipping of chocolate and pistachios is something that even the kids can help with. We promise everyone will love this special dessert. It tastes incredible whether dipped in coffee and tea or hot chocolate!
Shop local and run to Cococo Chocolatiers store fronts (with masks on please 😉 or order all your holiday goodies for snacking and baking directly from their website. Pull out your kitchen mixer and you’ll be ready to go. We promise this recipe will make your Christmas merrier.
Once your dough is mixed, divide it into 2 equal parts. Hand form 2 small “logs” with each half of dough and place on parchment lined baking sheet to bake. The dough may seem a bit sticky but this is ok! Dust your hands with a bit of flour if necessary to handle the dough.
Once you have made your 2 biscotti “logs”, go ahead and dust them with icing sugar. Then they’re ready for the oven!
The trick to creating a traditional biscotti that’s slightly crisp on the outside and then ever so soft inside is from “double” baking. After you’ve baked the initial “logs” for 30 minutes, pull them out of the oven and let them slightly cool for approximately 7 minutes. Slice them and then bake into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
While your biscotti is cooling, chop the pistachio’s. These nuts are soft enough that you can use just a good knife and cutting board;) We love the green color of these nuts for Christmas! Then, when the biscotti is fully cooled the SECOND time, you’re totally ready to start tempering chocolate for dipping.
If you’ve never tempered chocolate before, this is an important process you won’t want to miss for decorating your biscotti. This allows the chocolate to be smooth, glossy and have a consistent color when cooled. A semisweet chocolate will need to tempered at a higher temperature around 90°F / 32.2°C. For more direction and an actual process of tempering chocolate you can refer back to our Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites recipe. Just remember that semisweet chocolate has a higher tempering temperature then white chocolate. You’ll still bring the chocolate first to 110°F / 43.3°C but then cool it using more chocolate to reach a temperature of 90°F / 32.2°C.
Once your chocolate has reached it’s tempering temperature, go ahead and begin dipping the biscotti. We had fun trying all sorts of chocolate dip variations! Chocolate on top, chocolate on the bottom, chocolate on the side…You’ll need to work quickly if you add pistachios. If you’ve tempered your chocolate correctly, it will be hard within a couple minutes. Dip the chocolate and then immediately into the nuts before the chocolate sets. Have fun with this step and see what different combinations you can create with your biscotti.
Pull on your cozy socks and pour a cuppa to start dipping!
Gingerbread Biscotti
Course: Dessert, TreatCuisine: CanadianDifficulty: Easy20
servings30
minutes50
minutesA traditional biscotti with a holiday twist. A gingerbread cookie enrobed with Cococo Chocolatiers couverture chocolate and pistachio’s make this treat absolutely amazing! Perfect for dipping in coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups CUT flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp CUT Fall Spice
1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp icing sugar for “dusting” on top
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Combine all ingredients (except icing sugar) into electric mixer and stir well.
- Divide dough into 2 halfs.
- Using your hands form each dough half as a “loaf” on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Dust icing sugar over each loaf using a sieve.
- Bake for 30 mins.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5-7 minutes.
- Slice loaves into approximately 3/4″ – 1″ pieces thick.
- Flip each slice on it’s side flat again on parchment lined baking sheet and bake again for 10 min.
- Finely chop pistachios, and let biscotti fully cool.
- Temper Cococo Chocolatiers semisweet chocolate at temperature of 90°F / 32.2°C.
- Working quickly, begin dipping biscotti in tempered chocolate and roll in pistachio’s.
- Pour a cup of coffee and start dipping…The holidays are here and everything will be alright,
Stacey and Meg
