{Dairy Free} Chocolate Cappuccino Biscotti

Whew! What a week its been so far. Despite being a shorter week than usual, it seems like it was so much more exhausting than it usually is. Part of it is that two of my four days this week were attending training seminars all day and the fact that my car broke down on my way to said training seminar. I think I was also coming back to reality after such a fantastic yoga retreat last weekend which made this week seem even tougher! You know what you need on weeks like that? Delicious and flavourful biscotti. That's what will make it allllll better. Especially biscotti you can indulge in nearly guilt free - these have no added fat (some fat in the chocolate chips, but no oil or butter products added to this dough) and they have no dairy (I substituted almond milk for the milk).

Chocolate Cappuccino Biscotti
Recipe minimally adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (or you could substitute 1 cup whole wheat for one cup of white flour)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 1 tbsp finely ground coffee
• 1 tbsp almond milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

 

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk coffee, ground coffee, almond milk, egg and vanilla.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat flour, sugar, soda, powder, salt and spices until combined. Gradually mix in coffee mixer until combined. Add chocolate chips and incorporate without overmixing.
4. With floured hands, divide the dough in half. Roll each portion of dough into a log about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. Transfer logs to prepared baking sheets (one on each sheet).
5. Bake in preheated oven until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack 10 minutes.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 300F. On a cutting board, cut the logs lengthwise on a diagonal into 3/4 inch slices. Place cut side up on a baking tray. Bake five minutes, flip over and bake five minutes on the other side. Remove from heat, let cool. Store in an airtight container.

 

These were really yummy with all the spices and with the strong coffee flavour. We really enjoyed them dipped in coffee or tea or even just eaten as a snack. What is your favorite kind of biscotti?

 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Parmesan & Black Pepper Biscotti

Nutty Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Gingerbread Biscotti

 

Happy Baking my Friends!

Heavenly Iced Coffee!

I don't know about you, but when the warm spring and summer days hit, nothing tastes better to me than a delicious, creamy iced coffee! When you make it at home it just doesn't taste the same as when you get one from your favorite coffee shop. This recipe will teach you how to make one that tastes just like the one you get from the coffee shop with way less fat and sugar and for a fraction of the price! Plus, once you make the coffee base, it keeps in your fridge for a month, so you can enjoy iced coffees for weeks before having to make another batch. :)

This recipe uses the cold brew method of brewing coffee which takes a long time, but avoids the bitterness of hot brewing coffee, so its well worth it. Start making these the evening before you want to enjoy.

I found  this recipe/ method on Craving Comfort with the Homesteading Housewife. If you have a chance, head over there for some lovely photos and some great recipes.

You can make this recipe in smaller or larger batches depending on your coffee consumption rate!! The ratio is 1 oz coffee beans to 1 cup of cold water.

Creamy & Sweet Iced Coffee
Recipe minimally adapted from Craving Comfort

Ingredients:

• 8 oz coffee beans, coarsely ground just before using
• 8 generous cups of cold water
• cheese cloth
• 1 can fat free evaporated milk
• 1/2 can low fat sweetened condensed milk (1.5g fat per serving)

Method:

1. Combine coarsely ground coffee with the cold water in a large bowl. Stir to ensure all coffee grounds are moistened. Leave sit 8 hours or overnight.
2. Line a fine mesh sieve with a few layers of cheesecloth (3-4) or with a coffee filter (you may need to change the coffee filter several times while filtering). Pour coffee mixture through the lined sieve until completely drained. Chill coffee base in fridge and discard the grounds.
3. Mix together the evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. I combined mine in a salad dressing container that mixed everything together nicely.
4. Fill a tall glass with ice and find a pretty straw. Fill glass 3/4 full with coffee mixture then top remaining room with the milk mixture. Stir and enjoy! You won't ever have to buy iced coffee again!! 

You can also experiment with different flavours of coffee beans. The second time I made this one I used 3 1/2 oz of hazelnut cream flavoured beans and the remaining 4 1/2 oz of beans I used just plain regular coffee beans. It was delicious! Some of the other flavours I want to try out are vanilla, bavarian chocolate, and irish cream. Using 3 1/2 ozs resulted in a very prominent flavour, so if you are after a more subtle flavour try starting with 2 - 2 1/2 ozs of flavored beans. This adds extra flavour to your coffee without adding extra calories!

Hope you enjoy this one! I know I definitely did. I've made it twice now and even my hubby enjoys it and he's not nearly the coffee fanatic I am. Cheers!

Coffee Beans

Its no secret, I like coffee, in fact I can't really function without it. Me minus coffee on any given day = grouchy, cranky, headachey etc. All in all, not fun! So I must have coffee... good coffee! I'm always checking out new types of coffee and the other day I stumbled across this delicious coffee put out by Level Ground Trading. I'm not really one to get sucked into all the fair trade, organic stuff, but after checking out their website, this company does some cool things and also does some great things for the people they buy their products from. So I thought I would share with you!

According to their webside, their mission is to "...trade fairly and directly with small-scale producers in developing countries, offering our customers ethical choices." So we've got a company thats going to source high quality, delicious products and pay their suppliers a fair price?! Awesome! Another cool thing about this company? They're based in Victoria, British Columbia! I won't go too crazy about their history, but you can check it out here if you're interested! These folks uphold some pretty high standards though, what with being certified organic, zero-waste, participatants in upcycling and green commuters I don't think you can get much more virtuous than that!!!

Level Ground sources delicious coffee from locations such as Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. They also source dried fruit and sugar. They have been slowly building up their product base over time as they build relationships with the farmers who grow the products they source. One of the things that struck me was the fact that the bag of coffee said "We shake the hands that pick our beans". You can go on their website and look up detailed information about each individual farm that grows the products they source! To me this just shows what a great company this is - the fact that they can put relationships and fair trade above the ever pressing drive to make a quick buck. It pays off though - they've got some delicious, high-quality products that deserve to be shared. I would encourage you next time you buy coffee to check out a bag of Level Ground coffee to support a great company!

Cheers!

The Daring Bakers September 2010 Challenge - Decorated Sugar Cookies

Last month was my very first Daring Bakers Challenge. It was great - I learned a lot and made something I never would have made otherwise. This month, I felt a bit let down when I saw that the recipe was sugar cookies... I mean, we've all made sugar cookies. Boy was I wrong. What a challenge it was! Who knew how much technique goes into decorating these things. Outlining, flooding, artistic ability, various types of decorating icing etc etc. It was awesome! I learned so much this month and am super happy to have participated in the challenge!

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking. The theme was September and what it meant to me. My favorite part about September is the return of drinking warm beverages - particularly vanilla lattes! So I got creative and made my cookies into coffee cups with "whipped cream" and flavoured the cookies like a vanilla latte! They were delicious and definitely didn't last long in our house!


Basic Sugar Cookies
Recipe adapted from Peggy Porschen (see link above)
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

Ingredients:

• 200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
• 400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
• 200g / 7oz / 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/2 tbsp finely ground high quality coffee beans

Method:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and finely ground coffee beans. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch) Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins. Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
2. Once chilled, carefully peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour. Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking. Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies. Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done. Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly. Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired. Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decoratedcookies can last up to a month.
   
   

Next up, I made the meringue "whipped creams" to go on top of the coffee cups. It is a very simple recipe from my Joy of Cooking cookbook. I have already posted the recipe in another post of mine earlier this month - please refer to my post Lemon Meringue Dessert and make the meringue portion of the recipe. Pipe into whipped cream shapes that will fit on your cookies.

Now it's time to decorate the cookies - the fun, but time consuming part! I chose bright, fun colours and I outlined my cookies in black. Use the royal icing recipe from the Joy of Baking website listed above. I followed it exactly, but instead of flavouring with almond extract, I used vanilla.

I'm really happy with how my cookies turned out and I learned so much! I can't wait to practice my skills and really perfect my decorating techniques! There are so many options and so much creative inspiration out there on webpages and also on fellow Daring Bakers' blogs. Thanks Mandy for a great challenge!



Happy Baking My Friends!