I love myself some biscotti, their hard, dry texture makes them completely dunk worthy and rarely do I have my cuppa without a thing to dunk into it. Biscottis are of Italian origin, meant to be taken along on travel. The name literally translates into "baked twice", their dryness gives them a long shelf life. Of course, biscottis come in all forms today with a wide range of stuff thrown in to up their ante - from chocolate chips, cranberries, pistachios, cinnamon and what have you. The Italian and the American versions differ in terms of their texture, the American one being softer, closer to a cookie and has butter added to it. The Italian one, being dryer and harder. Here is an interesting read on them.
I had earlier attempted a batch of peanut butter biscotti (mainly in a bid to finish off a never ending box of peanut butter that my family did not take much favor to). They came out a little cake-y for my liking, so had been on the lookout for another recipe with peanuts. "Jugu cakes" ("Jugu" means peanuts in Kiswahili), a Tanzanian special, fit the bill . The recipe (from here) is fairly simple, I made my modifications to make it more biscotti like. The only change I would for the next time would be to lightly toast the peanuts for an extra crunch.
Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C. In a bowl beat one egg, vanilla extract, oil and milk. In a bigger bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and peanuts. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and form a dough.
Roll out in strips around 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick on parchment paper covered baking tray. Make sure to keep at least 2 inches distance between the strips as they would spread some. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 mins and then cut them diagonally in bars around 1 inch (or a little less) wide.
Spread these on the tray and pop them back into the oven to bake at 160 degrees C for another 15 mins. Cool completely on the wire rack and store in air tight containers.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (canola or corn)
1 1/2 cups milk
3 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 cups shelled, unsalted peanuts, finely chopped
I had earlier attempted a batch of peanut butter biscotti (mainly in a bid to finish off a never ending box of peanut butter that my family did not take much favor to). They came out a little cake-y for my liking, so had been on the lookout for another recipe with peanuts. "Jugu cakes" ("Jugu" means peanuts in Kiswahili), a Tanzanian special, fit the bill . The recipe (from here) is fairly simple, I made my modifications to make it more biscotti like. The only change I would for the next time would be to lightly toast the peanuts for an extra crunch.
Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C. In a bowl beat one egg, vanilla extract, oil and milk. In a bigger bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and peanuts. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and form a dough.
Roll out in strips around 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick on parchment paper covered baking tray. Make sure to keep at least 2 inches distance between the strips as they would spread some. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 mins and then cut them diagonally in bars around 1 inch (or a little less) wide.
Spread these on the tray and pop them back into the oven to bake at 160 degrees C for another 15 mins. Cool completely on the wire rack and store in air tight containers.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (canola or corn)
1 1/2 cups milk
3 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 cups shelled, unsalted peanuts, finely chopped
Wow! that is innovative and creative and extremely yummy! Love the pictures as well ! Cant wait to try this - SVB
ReplyDeleteI am speechless. And sorry for ever doubting your cookery skills. To be fair, that dal u used to cook was a far cry from these yummilicious cakes and cookies!
ReplyDeleteHow long do these last?
ReplyDeleteShould last easily 2 weeks if kept in an airtight container. Mine were over in a week though :)
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