Biscotti and Patties

I was having the hardest time deciding on what recipe to try next from the book. Somehow, I wasn't in the mood for anything I saw. So I put it back on the shelf and noticed another, very unused cookie book sitting next to it, and it was calling my name ;o). It's 'Big, fat, cookies' by Elinor Klivans. My husband commented that the cookies pictured on the front looked great, so I made them. Also, I came by a recipe for biscotti that looked interesting enough to try as well. So here's my report!


The biscotti recipe had many choices on add-ins, and I picked dried cranberries and pecans that I had just stocked up on. I love biscotti, but sometimes they are just a little too hard to my liking, mostly when they totally lack butter. I'm all for low-fat cookies, but not when they don't taste good because of it. This recipe called for a few tablespoons of butter, but still not too much. I didn't make them as big as the book directs you to, and I didn't bother with the complicated way of adding the dried fruit to the dough (just mixed everything right in). I have to say this might be number 1 on my biscotti list. They are truly delicious. Crispy, but not tooth-breaking hard. Studded with nuts and dried fruit, simply delicious. I'm going to try them with dried apricots and almonds next.



Next recipe I tried was called 'Peppermint patties'. Now I didn't have the peppermint extract called for, and my husband asked me to not make it peppermint no matter what I did, so I just made the butter/sugar filling a vanilla one. I made the cookies slightly smaller (two-fisted in size seemed a little excessive ;o)) than the recipe stated. The verdict: sweet, chocolatey, goodness. They are definately not a little in between snack, and are aslo sweet, but the chocolate cookies, chocolate glaze and buttercream filling blend together wonderfully. They are best when served cold, like the author suggests.
I'm thinking this book deserves further test baking and could become one of my favorites!