Orange Nut and Date Biscotti

Normally, I'm not a big fan of Biscotti.  I'm Italian, though, so I should love it, right? ;)


Well, I don't.  I prefer my cookies to be softer.  And I know that I could make them softer by dipping them in coffee, but I don't really like coffee all that much either.


So, um, why did I make Biscotti?


I'll tell you why.


I wanted to put store-bought Biscotti to shame and make some that tasted good.  


And I did just that!  This Biscotti is amazing!  The orange flavor really accentuates all of the other flavors in just the right way... and it has just the right amount of crunch/chewiness... and they're good for you!


I even put on my big girl panties and had it with coffee this morning.  And I loved it!

Orange Nut and Date Biscotti
Adapted from Ivory Hut via  The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson
Makes 4 dozen biscotti sliced 1/2 inch thick or 2 dozen sliced 1 inch thick as seen in the photos.



3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 whole orange (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or you can just use 2 cups all purpose flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup almonds, pecans, walnuts, toasted pistachios (or a combination of nuts)
1 cup chopped dates 

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla and orange zest. 
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the nuts.
4. Stir using a spoon first and then using your hands. The dough will be very sticky and tacky, so I suggest greasing or flouring your hands. Stir in the nuts and dates.
5. Flouring your hands and working surface, roll half of the dough into a 12-inch log. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Repeat with the remaining dough.
6. Bake in the center position of the oven for about 40-50 minutes, until golden brown. Take the logs off the sheet and onto a cooling rack, let cool for about 5 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees and line another baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
7. Use a serrated knife to slice the logs into 1/2-inch thick slices. 
8, Return the slices to the baking sheets and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and almost crisp. 
9. Transfer to cooling racks and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Healthy Banana Nut Bread

I WON A GIVEAWAY!!!
I wouldn't call myself an unlucky person, but I never, ever win anything, so winning this just completely made me day... week, even.  I've been reading Cindy's blog for a while now and I love it.  Her recipes are mouthwatering and her photography skills are definitely something I'm envious of. I'm just waiting for summer to roll around so I can make her cantaloupe sorbet. Thank you, Cindy! :) :)

In other good news today:

I really enjoyed the sermon today at church.  Sometimes I feel bad because I walk away not getting anything from it, but today I did.  It's days like today that remind me to keep believing because it's worth it.  "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:34.  So true!!

After church, I had a wonderful lunch with Kellen and his family.  I always do; they're such great people and I'm lucky to be able to be around them.

Also, it's raining, which means I'm sleeping with the windows open tonight!

All of these good things today are really helping me procrastinate studying for the tests I have this week.  Oh well, take the good with the bad. Haha :)

I'm going to be a copycat and ask a question of the day:


What's your favorite summer treat?
and
If you go to church, do you ever walk away feeling like you didn't get anything from the sermon?  and 
If you don't go to church, what have you walked away from, feeling bad, that you expected more out of?

Just feelin' a little curious today, I suppose.

In other news, check out Katie's giveaway!

Make flaxseed mixture.

Sift the dry's.

Melt your banana, if you want.

My favorite part!  Mix everything together and do some quality control.

Wonder why your cat was hiding in the spice rack...

Just stoppin' by.

I made a little topping of 1/4 cup applesauce, 1/4 cup chopped nuts, 1/8 cup flour, 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1/8 tsp baking powder)

Bake!

Healthy Banana Nut Bread
Adapted from: Ecurry

Ingredients: (yields one loaf in a 9 X 12 pan)

1. 3 cups whole wheat flour + more for dusting
   
2. a pinch of salt
3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
4. 1/3 cup flaxseed powder
   
5. 1/3 cup + 1 cup orange juice or milk (I used almond milk)
   
6. 1/4 cup applesauce
   
7. 1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla extract (I used vanilla and it turned out really well, but next time I think I'll use almond, just to try it)
   
8. 1 cup sugar, or 3/4 cup agave or honey
9. 1 cup mashed banana, about 3-4 bananas depending on the size (I microwaved mine until they got melty, then added them)
10. 1 cups chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Lightly grease a 9 X 12 loaf pan.
2.  Sift flour, salt and baking powder.
3.  Combine flaxseed powder with 1/3 cup orange juice/milk/almond milk (depending on what you are using), and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
4.  In another large bowl combine oil, sugar (or honey), mashed banana, and the rest of the juice/milk/almond milk, vanilla/almond extract. Add the flaxseed powder mix to this and stir to combine.
5.  Add the flour mix to this wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended. This is going to be a sticky gooey mix.
6.  Dust the the nuts with flour. Carefully fold them into the dough.
7.  Spoon the dough into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour to hour and a half or till the toothpick comes out clean (it took 60 minutes in the convection oven).
8.  Cool completely for about 15 minutes before turning the bread over. Slice only when completely cool or it will fall apart.

Honey Glazed Trail Mix

I'm very happy to inform you that I started a photography class last night.

I would like to think I can bake, but when it comes to photographing my baking...not so much.  So, I decided that a photography class would be a good first step.  It's kind of hard to believe that a cake tastes delicious when you can clearly see that the cake does not look delicious, no matter how much I try to persuade you that it really does.  So please, photography teacher, help me!

My first assignment is to take a minimum twenty pictures using the rules of photography.  It's due Tuesday.  I will be using my baked goods as one of my main subjects.  Bear with me!  There's probably only so much you can do with a point and shoot camera.  Or maybe that's just my excuse for sucking.  I hope the class helps because I just had to pay to be able to add any more pictures on here. 

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the trail mix I made, but I was excited and had to let you all know about it.  I guess I could tell you about the trail mix, though.  It's delicious.  It's a mixture of sweet and salty, which I love.  Every bite has a sweet, crunchy glaze wrapped around a salty piece of the mix.  So good, but warning:  it's addictive.  I had to wrap it up in muffin cups and take it to work to pass out because I couldn't stop eating it.

Also, I just realized I only took one picture of this recipe.  After I wrote the entire post about photography... Of course.

Honey Glazed Trail Mix
All Recipes
*You can add whatever you want, as you can see.  I added cheerios

• 4 cups Rice or Corn Chex® cereal
• 1 1/2 cups miniature pretzels
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine cereal, pretzels and pecans; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan; stir in honey and blend well. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat evenly. Spread in a jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes or until mixture is slightly glazed, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Spread on waxed paper to cool completely.