Cinnamon Vanilla Cranberry Biscotti
Do you want your baking to take an extra two or three hours and really inconvenience yourself. Well boy do I have the way to make that happen. Try to setup to create a video of your baking process. This is my first recipe where I decided to try and make a video. I won’t lie I had a ton of fun and I’ll continue doing it. Not only did it increase my time in the kitchen, but it increased the amount of time getting everything ready for this. I had to find a video editing software and then learn, on the fly, how to use it. I spent hours doing that and cutting this and this and a few seconds here and a few frames there. I’m happy with how it turned out. I will say I really nailed these pictures though too. I really wish I would share more of them. Getting a drip of milk in mid-air is pretty hard, even with a remote.
So now that I’ve expanded on all of that what did I make? I’m back on a biscotti kick. Cinnamon Vanilla Cranberry Biscotti. I had every intention of adding a small amount of oatmeal for texture and flavor but completely forgot while getting lost in setting up and shooting the videos. No loss though. I do think it could have added a slight bit of texture to the top, I’m not sure there’s any real loss of flavor.
I chose to use a Saigon Cinnamon as it’s a touch sweeter in my opinion. I had no idea there were as many different types of cinnamon as there are. There’s a Bolivian one that we get from The Witch’s family and it’s completely different in smell and taste. It’s awesome. Anyway back to the biscotti. A heaping tablespoon of vanilla and it may be slightly lost in the biscotti but it’s there. I’ve imparted baking tips in the chocolate hazelnut biscotti recipe here. The best trick for shaping is to wet your hands after you put the dough on the baking sheet, but before you try and shape it. This will allow your hands to not stick.
I have a sleeping baby on my chest and I’m late for a work meeting so I have to run. Try it out and let me know what you think. Also any feedback on the video would be great as well
Ingredients
1/2 Cup unsalted butter (1 stick) - softened to room temp
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 Large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Cup dried cranberries
Instructions
preheat the oven to 350 degrees
cream the butter and sugar together
add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine
mix in the vanilla
in a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon together
slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet in batches. scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl
mix in the dried cranberries
move the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
with wet hands shape the dough to roughly 12 inch long, 3 inches wide, and an inch tall
Bake for 30 minutes at 350
Remove and let rest for 5 minutes
Reduce oven temperature to 325
slice into 1 inch wide pieces
return to the oven and bake again for 35 minutes
let cool and re-slice
These cookies use all of those left over bits of chocolate chips, plus a special ingredient to really give them something else.