Cranberry Biscotti

Today's post is a Cranberry Biscotti recipe that I got from my recipe book called "The Kitchen" The Four Sisters Inn. A few years ago I vacationed in Monterey California and stayed at the Gosby House Inn and purchased their cookbook.

Cranberry Biscotti
Ingredients:
13/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup light olive oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4 cups unblanched almonds, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl mix together the olive oil, sugar, extracts and eggs. Mix well. Stir in flour mixture until well combined and then fold in cranberries and almonds.

Wet both hands with cool water and divide dough into halves. Roll dough into two 10-12 inch logs.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until tops of logs are light brown and beginning to crack. Remove baking sheet from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275. Cut logs on the diagonal 3/4 thick. Lay biscotti cut side down and bake for 20 minutes. Or bake for 10 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven and turn over biscotti so that the other cut side is down on the sheet. Bake for another 8 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from oven and let biscotti cool on the sheet.

Recipe courtesy of Gin Yang, fan of Four Sisters Inn.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Today I am sharing with you a pound cake recipe that I have been making for the last 20 years. This recipe is not up for discussion on health or nutrition. No substitutions have been made to reduce fat, cholesterol or calories. I got this recipe from a Betty Crocker Holiday Ideas cookbook back in 1991. It is a wonderful recipe and I hope you have the opportunity to try it sometime!

Sour Cream Pound Cake
1/2 pound butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs separated (I only had 5 and it still turned out good!)
1 cup sourcream (if you don't have sourcream and can use plain yogurt)
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in egg yolks until well blended. Beat in sourcream, almond extract, and vanilla. Mix flour and baking soda together in separate bowl. Beat flour mixture into batter one cup at a time, until well blended. In another bowl beat egg whites until stiff and gently fold into batter. Pour cake batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Cooks note: Sometimes I forget to gently fold in the egg whites. After I have added all the flour, I immediately add the egg whites to the mix master bowl. So no gentle folds going on here!! haha And it still turns out good!!

Here's the recipe I used to ice the cake.
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 tbsp lime juice
2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Add butter to saucepan and melt. Pour in pineapple juice and lime juice; stir well and add icing sugar. Let sauce boil and keep stiring. The icing will thicken. Remove from stove and let cool for a couple of minutes. Pour over cake and voila!

I also added some chopped maraschino cherries to the batter!
Mmmmm yummy!

Enjoy!!
Thanks for stopping by!