Gingerful Biscotti

By patticakes

Ingredients

• 4 oz (1 loosely packed cup) crystallized ginger
• 7 oz (1/14 cups) whole almonds (Pat note – recipe says blanched or unblanched, but I prefer blanched)
• 3 cups sifted unbleached flour
• 3/4 ts baking soda
• 3/4 ts baking powder
• 1/4 ts salt
• 1 1/4 ts finely ground white pepper
• 1 ts ginger
• 1/2 ts ground cinnamon
• 1/2 ts ground mustard powder
• 1/4 ts ground cloves
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup mild honey

Preparation

Step 1

Cut the ginger into pieces about the size of small green peas, and set aside. Toast the almonds in a shallow pan at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly colored, and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl strain or sift together the dry ingredients. Stir in the the crystallized ginger, then the nuts. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and honey to mix, and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until the dry ingredients are completely moistened.

Place two 18 to 20 inch lengths of plastic wrap on your work surface. Form a strip of dough on each piece of plastic, by spooning heaping tablespoonfuls down the middle of the plastic. The strips should be about 13 inches long. Flatten the tops slightly by dipping a large spoon into water and pressing down on the dough. Join the long sides of the plastic wrap to enclose the dough, and press on the plastic with your hands to smooth and shape the dough into an even strip 13 to 14 inches long, 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches wide and no more than ¾ inch thick. Place both strips on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 300. Place each strip diagonally onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 50 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom once during baking. Then reduce heat to 275 and remove the sheets from the oven. Immediately move the strips to a large cutting board. While they are very hot, use a pot holder or towel to hold them in place and a serrated French bread knife or a very thin knife (I prefer the thin knife) to slice them on an angle. The sharper the angle, the longer the cookies. Slice very thin about ¼ to ¼ inch wide. Place the slices on a cut side, touching each other, back on the cookie sheets and bake at 275 for about 25 minutes. Bake just until dry. Do not overbake. When done, cool and store in an airtight container.