Yay Christmas cookies!

It's definitely after Christmas, and I've had these cookies finished for weeks, but I'm finally getting some time to sit down & share them. I think I'll do a couple recipes at a time, since I have quite a few to post.

First: (and a special one, as it was my Christmas gift to extended family)



Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra light tasting olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup chopped raw pistachios

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cream together olive oil & sugar. Add extracts & eggs, mix until blended. Sift together flour, salt & baking powder; gradually add to egg mixture (abt 1/2 cup at a time). Mix in cranberries & nuts by hand.

Divide dough in half, and form 2 logs (12 x 2 in) on lightly greased cookie sheet. Dough will be sticky, wet hands with cool water to shape logs more easily. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven & transport to cooling racks. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F.

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, or until the logs are cool enough to slice without crumbling. Once cooled, cut logs into 1/4 inch diagonal slices. Place cookie slices onto cookie sheet and place back into the oven. Let bake for about 20-25 minutes, flipping them over halfway through, or until dry. Makes about 36 cookies.


Mmmmm. I used the tasting oil because I wanted a really light oil, but some suggested using canola oil instead. I haven't personally tried it, but I bet it would work.

(Important side note: Twice when making this recipe I didn't have enough time to put the cookies in the oven the second time, so I completed the baking the next day. This didn't work at all...I ended up with gross, hard, crunchy, flavorless cookies. Not sure exactly why.)

When I was through, I also melted dark chocolate (microwave on "defrost" or use a double boiler) & dipped the bottoms of the biscotti into it. Made it a thousand times better!



Second:
World Peace Cookies
from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: My Home to Yours"

Serious Eats: Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies

Yes, I'm taking the easy way out with this one. I don't think I changed much at all with this recipe, although I did think 5 oz was a bit too much chocolate (fell apart when cutting) & I used the sea salt grinder I had in my kitchen instead of fleur de sel. I actually came across the recipe here:
Gigi Cakes

I very much like this blog, especially because she updates with yummy recipes so often!

World Peace Cookies are very good, with a different texture than I am used to in a cookie, and a lot of flavor. My boyfriend also LOVES the dough (I know, no eating raw eggs!) & kept sneaking into the fridge to eat it while I was letting it refrigerate.

Sorry the picture's not better, it's the only one I've got!

Hope you enjoy as much as I do!