Cranberry Spice Biscotti - Crazy Ingredients Challenge

I am the worst cookie baker in the world. Yet knowing this, I forwent my initial plan to make biscotti for this month's Crazy Ingredients Challenge and tried my hand at shortbread. Big mistake. I know what you're thinking. Biscottis are cookies and shortbreads are the easiest cookies to make. Right on both counts. But you see, biscotti, doesn't mind being in the oven a little long. It doesn't need to come out before it's done. It's OK for biscotti to be hard. This is my kinda cookie. As for the shortbread being easy? I don't want to talk about that. There was a cupcake plan too but to be honest, after eating half a cake in fewer days than anyone should eat half of an 18000 calorie cake, making cupcakes just seemed like a bad (but oh so delicious) idea.

But let's rewind a bit. I have not actually introduced you to the ingredients for this month. This month cranberries and gingerbread spice won the poll. Festive! And so much easier than last year's gingerbread spice and onions. That one had me scratching my head and ready to quit. I didn't even know what gingerbread spice was. But thanks to our then host - Jutta - and Google, I learned. The mix really varies a lot but I decided to keep it simple. I went with 2 parts cinnamon, 2 parts ginger, 1 part nutmeg, 1 part allspice, 1 part cloves. Other mixes include other spices such as anise, cardamom and even black pepper.

I really enjoyed this biscotti and hope you do too. Within hours of baking and cooling, I had already eaten a significant number. I still have those cupcakes on my mind and think I may try to fit them into my schedule in the upcoming week.  Scroll down to see what festive dishes others came up with for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge!

Cranberry Spice Biscotti

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup - 1 cup of chopped dried cranberries

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line one large or two small baking sheets with parchment, non-stick foil or baking mats. 
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. 
Whisk spices and brown sugar into melted butter then whisk in egg and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix just until the flour streaks disappear. Stir in chopped cranberries. Don't over mix. Dough will be very sticky.
Divide the dough into two. With floured or wet hands, pat each piece into an 11" x 2.5" smooth rectangle.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool for another 25 minutes then slice at 1/2 inch intervals on a slight diagonal.
Place the slices cut side up and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the cookies and bake for another 5 minutes or until both sides are golden.
Cool completely.

Notes
You'll note that my ratio of cinnamon/ ginger to other spices is a bit more than 2 parts. I thought the biscotti could do with an extra cinnamon and ginger kick so I added an extra half teaspoon of each but didn't increase the other spices.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mint Tea Mini Bundts - #BundtBakers

I struggled with what to make for this month's Bundt Bakers. I knew that I would be baking myself a huge birthday cake and wondered if I should use the same batter for one of the layers of my cake and the Bundt. Laura, our host, chose mint for this month's theme  But that meant a mint chocolate layer and while I absolutely LOVE mint chocolate, I just wasn't feeling a mint chocolate layer this year. I was sipping a cup of tea when an idea struck. Perhaps I could use tea in my Bundt.

 I am not much of a hot beverage drinker. This is a fact that makes all my Jamaican friends give me the side eye. Poll several Jamaicans, and I can guarantee you that 99% of them will tell you that they always start their days with a hot beverage. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate (made from balls of pure chocolate), porridge. They just do not feel good without it. Pass me a cold beverage. Don't put porridge near me. However, if I am not feeling well, I will make myself some tea. I usually choose one of three options - mint, ginger or lime leaf. I know someone is raising his/her eyes at lime leaf. Hehe. Considering that most of the first page Google results for "lime leaf tea" are Jamaican, this might be a Jamaican thing.

The tea infusion worked better than I expected. The cake is has a light mint flavour and also a slight green tinge. I left the leaves in because my dried mint leaves were pretty small and I liked the look. but you could strain if you wish. I can't wait to try this with other teas. I meant to add an orange tea to this but opted to try just mint for now. orange and chai will come later.

There are lots of minty cakes and bread for you to drool over this month. Scroll down to see the list!

Mint Tea Bundt

Recipe by: Kelster    Adapted from: Holy Vegan

Yield: 3 one-cup size mini Bundts

Ingredients 1/2 cup hot milk 1 teaspoon dried peppermint leaves 1/2 teaspoon vinegar 1/4 cup butter 6 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 2/3 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda pinch of salt

Directions Thoroughly grease and flour 3 one cup capacity mini Bundt pans. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the tea leaves to steep in the hot milk. When cool, strain milk, if desired, and add the vinegar. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Alternate adding the flour and milk to the butter mixture and mix until well combined. Pour into prepared pans and bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a cake comes out clean.

Notes My peppermint leaves were pretty small so I left them in. You could strain the milk and add leaves that have been processed finely to the flour mixture. You could also place the leaves in a cheesecloth but squeeze well and you may need to add more milk after.

 

• Mint Chocolate Truffle Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Creme de menthe butter bundt from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Double Mint Mountain Bundt Cake from Baking in Pyjamas
• Bundt cake with chocolate glaze and mint frosting from La cocina de Aisha
• Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake from Making Miracles
• Peppermint Cappuccino Cake from Magnolia Days
• Mini Minty Bundt Cakes from Brunch with Joy
• Candy Cane Bundt from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Fudgy Peppermint Bundt from A Day in the LIfe on the Farm
• Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake from Adventures In All Things Food
• Chocolate bundt cake with peppermint dark chocolate ganache from Brooklyn Homemaker
• Candy Cane Chocolate Bundt Cake from Cassie's Kitchen
• Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake from Box of Stolen Socks
• Double Chocolate and Mint Cheesecake Bundt Cake from Un Mordisco Un Pecado
• Peppermint Mocha Pound Cake Bundt from DessertStalking Blog
• Peppermint Candy Cane Bundt Cake from I love Bundt Cakes
• Candy Cane Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake
• Candy Cane Bundt Cake w/a Chocolate Ganache Drizzle from The Freshman Cook
• Peppermint Whipped Cream Pound Cake with Shaved Mint Chocolate from The Spiced Life
• Peppermint Patty Bundt Cake from Eat, Drink, Be Mighty
• Peppermint Candy Bundt from Tea and Scones
• Mint Tea Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• Candy Cane Cup Bundt Cake from From Gate to Plate
• Orange and Mint Bundt bread from A Kingdom For a Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling or Frosting

Every year, for the lat few years, I bake myself two special cakes - one for the anniversary of my brain surgery and the other for my birthday. Each year I tell myself that I am going to document the process (or the final result) on my blog but it never happens. Sometimes there's a minor hiccup with the cake that I just don't have time to fix (like an extremely sweet frosting in 2012). But most times it's because I am in a deep sugar coma and just can't get around to sorting through my endless cake notes.

This year after the annual "post on Facebook" ritual, someone asked for a recipe. So here I am, sorting through my notes. The cake has 4 layers - 2 brownies, one blondie and a cookie dough layer. These are then covered in a brown sugar Italian meringue buttercream. I'm going to take it one layer at a time. I know myself better than to try to write this up all at once. So first up is the chocolate chip cookie dough.

I adapted the recipe from Sprinkle Bakes. I used softened butter instead of melted butter and reduced the sugar a bit. I also did not add milk. See the recipe/notes for more information on that. Also, I opted for 2/3rds of her "I love a LOT of cookie dough" recipe. I do love a lot of cookie dough but there is a lot of cake here (18110 calories of it to be exact!). This made an approximately 0.8"  high layer when pressed into a 9" pan.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling or Frosting

Recipe by: Kelster    Adapted from: Sprinkle Bakes

Yield: 1 batch

Ingredients 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips milk, as needed

Directions Whisk together the flour and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in vanilla. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined and no flour streaks remain. Add milk by the tablespoon to get dough to preferred consistency. For a layer in a cake, you may only need about 4 tablespoons or less. For frosting, you may need up to 12 tablespoons. After desired consistency has been reached, stir in chocolate chips. For a layer in a cake, spread the cookie dough into a plastic wrap lined 9" cake pan. Cover and freeze. To use, simply place the frozen cookie dough on a layer of cake.

Notes One can also use mini chocolate chips. I was happy with the consistency of my filling and did not use any milk.