I absolutely loved making Biscotti when I made them for the first time a few weeks ago and they got rave reviews amongst my family and friends! I have been looking forward to making them again but this time I wanted to experiment with my own flavours rather than use Paul Hollywood's again but I still used his biscotti base - I'm not brave enough to mess with perfection! I popped down to my local Eco Store to fill up on ingredients and from there I settled on Pineapple & Coconut (a request from my good friend Nichola!) and Apricot, Pecan & Ginger. I am so pleased with how they turned out, they are still the same classic crisp, nutty biscotti that we all love but with a refreshing tropical flavour which comes from the coconut and sweetness from the pineapple. I am definitely logging this one down in my recipe file.
Ingredients
For the Biscotti Base...
250g Plain Flour (30g extra for chocolate biscotti)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
250g Caster Sugar
2-3 Eggs (beaten)
For the flavouring...
150g Desiccated Coconut
125g Dried Chopped Pineapple
1 tsp Coconut Extract
How To Make
1. Heat your oven to 140'c and line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding more, you may not need all your egg. Continue until you have a firm dough, your dough should not be sticky.
2. Now add the pineapple, coconut and coconut extract and mix by hand until thoroughly combined.
3. Once you have added you flavourings, turn your biscotti dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently before dividing in half.
4. Roll each piece of dough into a long log, about 4cm in diameter. Place both logs on the baking tray about 5cm apart. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
5. Leave the logs to cool on the tray for 10 minutes to allow the dough to firm up slightly and then transfer to a board. Cut the logs, on the diagonal, into 2-3cm thick slices.
6. Place the slices, cut side up, back on the baking tray. return to the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the biscotti are are dry through to the middle, turning them over halfway through.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Friday was VE Day 75 and whilst everyone else was baking scones and Victoria Sponge I decided to try my hand at Cinnamon Rolls (making two batches of scones in a short space of time left us feeling a bit "sconed-out" if there is such a thing...). I love cinnamon rolls but have always avoided making them myself for 2 reasons; the first reason with them being a bread dough - I am not confident with any bread making that cannot be done by my bread maker and number two was how long they take to make - it's quite a long process. Well, time is not something I am short of here on lockdown so I decided to give them a go - especially as my new mixer has a dough hook which will help with a give the dough a good knead! I wanted them fresh for mid morning to have with a cuppa but equally I didn't want to get up at 5am to start making them so I had a search online and saw that you can make 'overnight rolls' whereby you do the extensive work the night before and then bake them the next morning which suited me perfectly. I didn't follow a certain recipe, I read through several online and then fused my own version from them based on what I had in my cupboards and how much time I had - risky I know! This recipe may look long winded but if you take your time and have everything to hand they are so worth it because they tasted AMAZING!!! Literally my husband was beside himself with praise for them - he went all Paul Hollywood on me and started talking about 'great aeration of the dough' and 'even distribution of filling' bless him!!!
Ingredients
For the dough...
180ml Whole Milk
1 Satchet of Fast Action Yeast (56g)
50g Caster Sugar (you can use Granulated)
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
55g Salted Butter (melted)
380g White Bread Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
For the filling...
55g Salted Butter (softened to a spreadable consistency)
120g Light Brown Sugar (you can use dark brown if you prefer)
3.5 tsp Cinnamon
For the Glace Icing...
125g Icing Sugar
15ml Water
How To make
1. Warm the milk in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Tip into the bowl of your mixer and then sprinkle the yeast on top. Add in the sugar, egg, yolk and melted butter and mix until well combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour and salt until a dough starts to form.
2. Place the dough hook on your mixer and knead the dough on a medium speed for 8-10 minutes. The dough should form a nice ball and shouldn't be too sticky. If you don't have an electric mixer or don't want to use an electric mixer then use your hands to knead the dough for the same amount of time on a well floured surface.
3. Transfer the dough ball to a well oiled bowl, cover with cling film and wrap in a towel. Leave the dough to double in size, this takes approximately an hour and a half.
4. After the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a well floured surface and roll out into rectangle approximately 16x9 inches. Spread the softened butter over the dough. In a bowl mix together the light brown sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle it over the dough and then press it into the butter - this gives it stick and is to stop it all falling out when you roll it.
5. Roll up the dough, from the longest side, gently seal the seam and lay it seam-side down. Use a sharp knife (I used a bread knife) to cut the roll into 1 inch discs, I chopped about 2cm off each end first and discarded them. You should get 10 rounds from your roll.
6. Grease and base line a 10 inch springform cake tin (it can be square or round) and then pop the rolls inside it and cover with cling film and a towel. Leave the rolls to have their second rise for 45 minutes.
**If, like me, you want to leave them overnight, simply cover them in the clingfilm and pop them in the fridge. Get them out the next morning and wrap them in a towel and leave them to have their second rise for 45 minutes **
7. Preheat your oven to 200'c. Remove the cling film and towel and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin for approximately 5 minutes. Then pop them out of the tin and transfer to a cooling rack and leave for another 5 minutes before icing.
8. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and, using a fork, mix in the water to form a smooth drizzling consistency. Use the fork to drizzle the icing back and forth all over the rolls. Leave the icing to set for a few minutes and then pull them apart to serve.
