Coconut Biscotti

This is the time of year when I bake and bake.  The house smells delicious:  evergreen aromas mixed with the smell of baked goods!!  Delightful.

Over the years I have baked many things to give away and I guess my eureka moment occurred when I discovered Biscotti.  Here is a cookie that you don’t have to worry about going stale:  it’s meant to be hard and crunchy, great with coffee, ice-cream or by itself:  yum!   I make 3 different types this time of year and the first one up is Coconut.  The recipe can be doubled easily.  Notice there is no butter.  You might think that no cookie can be considered a cookie  without butter but this recipe is the exception.  This is also one of my favorite non-chocolate treats, so don’t be shy just because there is no chocolate.  I sometimes reject recipes because there is no chocolate, so I understand.  Enjoy!

Coconut Biscotti (adapted from Cooking Light)

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda, stir with a whisk.

Place sugar, vanilla and eggs in large bowl and beat with a mixer until thick, about 2 minutes.

Add flour mixture and coconut and stir to combine.  The dough will be sticky.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons  onto  cookie sheet lined with parchment paper until you have a rough log shape about 15 in. x 3 in.  Wet hands very slightly and push and pat dough into a somewhat smooth log, keeping the 15 in. x 3 in.  shape.  Refrigerator for an hour.

Put into preheated 300 degree oven and bake for about 40 minutes until log is golden.

Cool for about 20 minutes and transfer log  to a cutting board (using the parchment paper to help you).

Cut log into 1 inch slices and place upright onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Remove from baking sheet and cool completely.

Optional chocolate add in if you must (just kidding, these are excellent additions):  add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to batter.  Or when cookie is cooled, dip into melted chocolate, either the bottom of cookie  or 1/2 of the cookie.  Make sure the chocolate is the best quality you can purchase, Ghirardelli is my option.  Cool completely.

Biscotti with mini-chips and no chips.

Biscotti dipped in chocolate.