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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

chocolate orange biscotti recipe & paper cones

The days here have been filled with crafting, sewing, knitting, wrapping, and until this afternoon, baking. That's when I walked past my oven, which was preheating for a batch of cookies, and noticed a bright yellow light inside. Not a good sign...when I opened the door there were flames. It seems the heating element has burned out at about the worst time of year possible. I guess it wasn't such a good idea to postpone my cookie baking!
I did get biscotti made a few days ago, and as Elisabeth asked, here's the recipe:
Orange Chocolate Chip Biscotti
1/3 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. mini (or regular) chocolate chips
4 tsp. finely shredded orange peel
melted semi-sweet chocolate
Beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat til combined. Add eggs; beat 1 minute at medium speed. Beat in flour. Stir in chocolate pieces and orange peel. Shape dough into (2) 8 inch logs. Place logs on a lightly greased cookie sheet ~ flatten slightly to 2 inch widths. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on pan for 1/2 hour. Transfer logs to a cutting board. Cut diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices, and place cut side down on cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees F for 8 minutes ~ turn slices and bake 8 - 10 minutes more until crisp and light brown. Transfer biscotti to a wire rack and cool. Dip one end of each cookie in melted chocolate (or I often just use a knife to spread it over the cookie).
Makes about 32 cookies.
I hope you enjoy these as much as we do ~ the chocolate and orange combination is great!
These pictures show a couple paper cones I finished. I decided to fill them with boxwood, pine, crab apples, and tiny pine cones and have hung them in the kitchen and sunroom for decoration.
Hope you are all enjoying this week!

8 comments:

  1. Your paper cones are lovely!

    We had our element burn out just like that earlier this year. It was very easy to fix ours though. It just pulled right out and there was a number on it that my husband jotted down. He was able to buy a replacement quite easily and just popped it in place. Has worked perfectly ever since.

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  2. Anonymous8:05 PM

    Sorry about the oven Debbie:-( I love your cornucopia's . Tasha Tudor would love 'em too:-) I am going to try your biscotti receipt too--that combo sounds delicious!

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  3. Sorry about your oven. Good excuse not to bake! I love your cones with the greens. Just beautiful!

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  4. Anonymous9:49 PM

    Your biscotti sound delish! The Christmas Cones are really pretty. I think your mini-trees in the previous post are just adorable. I love seeing and tasting what your home is like.
    ~Jody

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  5. Your chocolate orange biscotti recipe sounds delicious - I'm looking forward to making it, and your cones with the greenery are beautiful!

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  6. I've never made biscotti, but I've always wanted to try. Orange and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
    I love the way your cones turned out. The greenery looks so simple and pretty. The crab apples are a perfect addition.
    I would not be a happy camper if my oven conked out right now! That's probably worse than the washing machine fiasco that we had recently given the need to bake and everything. Hope it all works out in time for you to do all that you still need to do.

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  7. Sorry about the oven and at this time of the year! Not good!!

    I am going to try the biscotti recipe. It sounds divine!!

    The cones are beautiful!

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  8. Hi Debbie,

    I wasn't able to post on any Beta blogs lately, but it seems to work again since Christmas! I love all your Christmas tree decorations and your cones are absolutely gorgeous!

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Thank you for taking time to leave a comment--I love reading each and every one! I will try to answer any questions you have in the comment section. Due to the amount of spam, I am sadly no longer able to accept Anonymous comments....Kindly, Deb