Gingerbread Biscotti
I only ever make biscotti around the holidays, but every year, I wonder why I don’t make it more often. My mom found this recipe on SheWearsManyHats.com, and she, and other adults in general, like to add cut up two cups of crystallized ginger to the dough before baking. I do not. What we can agree on, though, is adding white chocolate ganache to the top of the cookies when baked.
White chocolate ganache, specifically, can be tricky. A common misconception about white chocolate is that there’s no cocoa at all, but there are two types of cocoa: powder (which is dark brown) and butter (which is off-white). Most chocolate has both; white only has butter–at least 10% in the US– or it can’t be advertised as chocolate. When you shop for chocolate, make sure it doesn’t say “baking chips” or “white chips.” These mean that there isn’t enough cocoa butter for it to be sold as chocolate, and it won’t taste as good. In fact, neither Ghiridelli or Guittard, my go-to chocolate brands, have real chocolate. Guittard does have a little cocoa butter in it, though, so that’s what I prefer to use.
Honesty, I don’t have much of a ganache recipe. I melt some chocolate and add enough cream (or milk or half and half. Whatever we have on hand) until it’s the right texture. The ratio of white chocolate to cream should be around 3:1 ounces, by weight. You can melt the chocolate over a double boiler on the stove, but I just put it in the microwave for 20 seconds, stir, repeat for 10 seconds, and stir until it’s melted. I add cream and mix like crazy until it’s fully incorporated. It can solidify pretty quickly if you don’t use it immediately, but if you make it before you need it, stirring occasionally can prevent that.
To apply, I just dip the flat/cut side of each cookie in the chocolate (for the ends, I do the round side so I can stand them up to dry) but that can get crumbs in the ganache, and it doesn’t look as pretty. To prevent it, you can drizzle the ganache over the biscotti with a spoon.
To make biscotti, you have to shape the dough into a mound first and bake a log of dough. Be warned, the dough is very sticky, and your skin will be covered in dough if you don’t use grease, flour, or gloves when you shape. After it’s baked, you have to take the dough out of the oven, let it sit briefly until you can touch it without burning yourself. Then, cut them along the short side of the log to roughly the same thickness as each other and put them back in the oven.
Micah • Nov 24, 2024 at 9:53 am
Ian’s snickerdoodle are the reason I passed finals last year.