A Week of Wednesdays: Days 5 & 6

I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday...I sure did, despite having somewhat sick children! (That is why I didn't get to post yesterday!)

But since I missed yesterday, I will share two biscotti recipes, one of my own and one from my favorite Recipe Blogger, Elise of Simply Recipes (the picture above pictures the recipe from Elise.)

I love to make biscotti as gifts for my favorite coffee drinkers...Brent loves them...I mailed some to him while he was deployed years ago...they are great baked items to mail because they are sturdy and you don't worry about them not being fresh and soft, like you would with cookies or brownies. One Christmas, I made a coffee basket for my Dad and filled up a large mug with my mini-biscotti!

And biscotti is a great excuse to drink coffee! So I hope you enjoy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Biscotti (my recipe)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup banana, mashed
2 eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, soft
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet.
2. Beat sugar and butter with mixer on medium speed. Beat in banana, vanillan, and eggs until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Add chocolate chips.
3. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 10 x 3 inch rectangle on the cookie sheet with greased hands.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes.
5. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Turn slices cut side down on cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and dry on top. Turn cookies andbake 10 minutes longer. Cool on wire rack.

Yields: about 40 3-inch (mini) biscotti

Ginger Almond Biscotti

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
3 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1 cup blanched almonds (okay to use just raw almonds)

1. Bake almonds 10 minutes at 350°F, let cool, then roughly chop.
2. Cream sugar, molasses and butter. Add eggs, mixing in one at a time. Add minced ginger.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and all spice. Add flour mix into butter and eggs mix, one third at a time. Add almonds. (At this point sometimes it is helpful to refrigerate dough for several hours to make it more easy to form into logs.)
4. Turn out onto a well-floured board, and divide into two portions. With floured hands, shape into logs about 9-11 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch high, and transfer to a greased and floured baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and let stand until cool enough to handle.
5. On cutting board, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Return pieces cut side down to baking sheet. Re-bake 15-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Store in airtight container.