Adventures: Smells like the holidays

Everyone has favorite memories of the holiday season. Maybe it's the first snowfall, the first mistletoe hung in a doorway or the first smell of pumpkin pie, but no matter what it is, that first taste is the key to the holiday spirit.

I feel the holiday spirit flowing fully these days, and it inspired me to start baking.

There is just something about winter that drives me into the kitchen, armed with whisks, spoons and batter bowls.

Here is what I made this weekend and it was a huge hit!

This is the original recipe for pumpkin biscotti, but I made a few changes by using almonds instead of pepitas and not coating it in white chocolate. I prefer my biscotti traditional without extra chocolate (or calories).

Pumpkin Biscotti

Makes 10-12 cookies.

Ingredients

1 large egg

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup pumpkin puree

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

pinch of ginger

pinch of cloves

⅛ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

1¼ cups flour

3 tablespoons pepitas, lightly toasted (I used almonds instead)

4 ounces real white chocolate, chopped (I skipped the chocolate)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a medium bowl, beat together with a whisk the egg, sugar and baking powder. Beat vigorously until the mixture turns pale yellow and falls back in ribbons on itself when you lift out the whisk.

Next, add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt and vanilla. Continue whisking, aerating the mixture.

Finally, sprinkle the flour on top and fold it in with a spatula. Fold in the pepitas last.

Shape the dough into a flat log about 3″ wide by 8″ long using wet fingertips. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, turn the oven down to 300 and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice into ½” slices, place them back on the baking sheet and bake another 30 minutes, flipping them half-way through.

Let cool completely on a wire rack. When ready to serve, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip half of each biscotti into the white chocolate and let set before serving.

Notes

When making biscotti, the order of ingredients is important: be sure to beat the egg, sugar and baking powder alone before moving on to the next step.

I found this recipes (and tons more) at Simple Bites. The reason I found the recipe is because I Googled. Yes, I Googled. I had about a half cup of pumpkin puree remaining after a pumpkin cornbread recipe and I could not find anything to do with it. But, never let pumpkin go to waste!

So I Googled what to do, and came up with this amazing post! There are lots of other ideas here, all using delicious pure pumpkin puree.

Check it out and maybe you will also find some holiday inspiration!

Have a great week droolers!