Playing With Biscotti

I decided I was in the mood to bake.  I had a pair of bananas on top of the fridge that have been slowly ripening beyond edibility, and I thought it was time that I put them to use.  My immediate thought was banana bread, since I also had a quart of buttermilk in the fridge.  But the problem there is that my kids aren’t crazy about banana bread, and with Andy not being around much, I would eat that banana bread by myself.  And while delicious, that may not be the best thing for me.   I also decided to try and bake with only what was on hand, which meant that I needed something that I could use white whole wheat flour in, since the all-purpose is mostly non-existent.  As I sipped at a mug of Chai this morning, it occurred to me that it had been a long time since I made biscotti, and that was the perfect remedy for my “what to bake” problem.

I headed over to Cooking Light magazine online and the awesome recipe finder there.  If there is one resource that does biscotti well, it’s Cooking Light. They know how to do it right so the biscotti are perfect and flavorful, and even a tiny bit healthy for you.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Right off the bat I found a recipe for Chai Spice Biscotti, which really appealed to me and my mug of Chai.  The tea in the biscotti threw me though, as did the all-purpose flour.  I continued on, and found a recipe for Banana-Pecan Biscotti.  That sounded perfect! It would use one of my bananas, and although it called for all-purpose flour, I thought I could successfully sub in the white whole wheat.   The biscotti dough came together faster than it took the pecans to toast.  Before I could blink, I had it in the oven for it’s first baking, and it certainly wasn’t long before the smell of banana bread was wafting through the house.

I did wait patiently for them to cool, and then the moment of truth- these are most excellent biscotti.  As I suspected, they tasted remarkably like banana bread, only without the added fat and calories.  I didn’t read the directions quite right, and when they went back into the oven for the second toasting, I failed to turn the oven temp down.  As such, they ended up a little golden brown, but they’re still delicious!  They are the perfect thing for dunking in a cup of coffee or a mug of tea, and one biscotti takes care of that viscious sweet tooth that rears its head from time to time.  Banana-Pecan Biscotti are highly recommended by me.  And as to those Chai Spiced Biscotti?  You’ll have to come back tomorrow for those details.

Banana-Pecan Biscotti

1 3/4           cups  white whole wheat flour
1/2           cup  sugar
1           teaspoon  baking powder
1/4      teaspoon  salt
1/3           cup  mashed very ripe banana (about 1 banana)
1         tablespoon  vegetable oil
1           teaspoon  vanilla extract
1              large  egg
1/3           cup  chopped pecans — toasted
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Combine banana, oil, vanilla, and egg in a medium bowl; stir in flour mixture and pecans (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; shape dough into 2 (8-inch-long) rolls with floured hands. Place rolls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.

Bake at 350° for 23 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 250°; bake 15 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.