Biscotti al Vin Santo, Chocolate Crinkles, World Peace Cookies, Chocolate chipper

* Biscotti al Vin Santo *

1. Biscotti with sweet white wine
- Biscotti al Vin Santo ביסקוטי עם יין לבן מתוק
"In Italy, biscotti are scarcely sweetened, being designed to absorb sugar when dipped into a glass of sweet white wine. Elsewhere biscotti are treated more like a cookie to go with coffee .... Of their nature, biscotti are designed to keep for weeks at a time – the name means “twice cooked”. "
INGREDIENTS:
Makes about 20 biscotti
1/2 cup/90 g/3 oz whole blanched almonds
2 1/2 cups/300 g/10 oz flour, more if needed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup/150 g/5oz sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup/125 g/4 oz butter, cut in pieces
Few drops almond extract
3/4 cup/175 ml/6 fl oz sweet white wine
H O W:To brown the almonds: Heat the oven to 350ÅF/175ÅC/Gas 4. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Let them cool.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt into a bowl and stir in the sugar and lemon zest. Cut in the butter with 2 knives, then work it with your fingers to fine crumbs.
Make a well in the center and add the wine and almond extract. Stir with a wooden spoon, gradually drawing in the flour to make a smooth soft dough. If it seems dry, add a little more wine.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and work in the browned almonds. Shape the dough into a log about 1 inch/2.5 cm thick, 4 inches/10 cm across and 12 inches/30 cm long.
Wrap it in plastic wrap, then flatten it slightly. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours and longer if you wish.
The dough can also be frozen.
For the first baking: Heat the oven to 350ÅF/175ÅC/Gas 4. Unwrap the log, set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until lightly browned and firm on the outside 35 to 45 minutes.
A skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Let it cool and lower the oven temperature to 325ÅF/160ÅC/Gas 3.
When cool, cut the log with a serrated knife into 1/2-inch/1.25-cm slices – they will be quite soft, almost cake-like in the center.
Space the biscotti out on the oven shelf rack so they can dry. Rebake them until they are dry and lightly browned on the cut surfaces, 20 to 25 minutes.
Let them cool on a rack and store them in an airtight container.
 Full recipe + here

* chocolate chip cookies *

2. Chocolate chipper
The red kitchen עוגיות שוקולד צ'יפסchocolate chip cookies (via bill granger's 'sydney food')
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 lightly beaten egg
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of chocolate bits ( i only had a few half bars of lindt 70% dark chocolate leftover from a flourless choccy cake a while back. i, or rather max, chopped those up into haphazard chunks and it was perfect. the dark bitter chocolate is a good foil for the sweetness of the cookie)H O W
preheat oven to 180°c (350°F)
beat butter and sugar in a bowl until light and creamy.
add vanilla and egg and stir to combine (hmmm, i beat mine in with electric beaters. seemed to work out ok though)
stir in sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. it will be quite a stiff dough.
fold through chocolate bits.
place spoonsfuls (i used teasoonsful, slightly flattened with a fork) of cookie mix onto a lined baking tray. be sure to leave room for spreading.
cook for 15 - 20 mins until PALE golden. don't be tempted to brown them too much. they are much nicer when still chewy on the inside. remember, they will harden upon cooling.
cool on the tray for 5 mins, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. store in an air-tight container, if they last that long!
Full recipe + here (To make round cookies..just roll them to small balls,and for not SO dark cookies ..use demerara sugar)

* World Peace Cookies *

3. World Peace Cookies

Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

H O W1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.

Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.
3. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel.

Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)
Getting Ready to Bake:
5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
6. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature. Full recipe+ here - It was very easy to make these cookies again, but this time with my new Mixer !

* Chocolate Crinkles *

4. Chocolate Crinkles (Black and Whites)
Recipe(print) עוגיות שוקולד סדוקותSources: Baggett, Nancy. 'The International Chocolate Cookbook'. Stewart Tabori & Chang. New York: 1991.
Lebovitz, David. 'Room for Dessert'. Harper Collins Publishers. New York: 1999

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
8 ounces (225 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Topping:
1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
H O W
In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls, at least 1 hour (preferably several hours or even overnight).
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.
Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.54 cm) ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through.
Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the baking sheets. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chill until firm.)
Bake cookies for 10 to 13 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.)
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Full recipe