Macadamia dulce de leche biscotti

As I announced in my previous post, Silvana passed on the most yummy-looking recipe for biscotti, and seeing it has three of my favorite ingredients that make a combination I just adore, I knew I had to try it. Unlike the 'dunking' biscotti kind that can be bone dry (and lovely, don't get me wrong), this recipe includes a stick of butter, which I think makes them more of a decadent American cookie and less biscotti-like, taste-wise, if that makes sense. Anyway, she was kind enough to let me share the recipe here as well, so without further ado, here are my new favorite not-so-biscotti-like biscotti:

Macadamia Dulce De Leche Biscotti
2 ⅓ Cups All-Purpose Flour
1tsp bp
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ c macadamia nuts roughly chopped
1 c commercial white chocolate chopped aprox ½ inch pcs (Use the cheaper commercial kind if you want dulce; it caramelizes while baking and toasting Lindt and the better stuff not so much!)
1 c dried cranberries (or apricots) plumped in vanilla vodka (or alcohol of choice)
¼ lb (1 stick) of butter at room temp
1 ¼ c sugar (I used just 1)
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 375
In a bowl stir together dry ingredients.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In a small bowl, lightly whisk eggs, then add to butter mixture in a slow steady stream
add any leftover vodka, and incorporate briefly
Fold in flour in 3 additions just till incorporated
lightly fold in nuts and fruit
Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment and scoop dough out with spatula onto baking sheets equally in long logs
Wet hands and smooth down sides and top of logs flattening as you go to about ½ thick. Logs will spread while baking. Leave at least 3” space around them (keep wetting hands as you go; it prevents the soft dough from sticking.
Bake logs in preheated oven until a light gold color about 18 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board as soon as cool enough to handle slice with a sharp knife into slices ½ inch wide. Arrange back onto the parchment lined sheet, making sure to leave room between the slices. Bake until lightly toasted and the edges start to turn golden. Let cool completely on the baking sheet



Just a few notes to this recipe: I soaked my cranberries in brandy I have been infusing with vanilla beans and it added a nice touch. The cookies are on the sweet side because of the white chocolate (I just chopped a large block of white Lindt chocolate), but to me, the combo with the macadamia's and the cranberries is nothing short of perfect. I love them (as did my husband).
And after learning our house didn't sell after all, what's a girl to do but do some mean therapeutic baking and cooking? So a report on Jamie Oliver's tomato bread and a Macadamia nut-caramel-chocolate tart (Fine Cooking magazine), which were on the menu also, will appear here shortly. And before anyone starts to worry: we didn't finish all these goodies just between the two of us. Everything was shared and much appreciated :o).