Garlic Bread Biscotti

It all started with an innocent conversation on Twitter:

@jo_jo_ba: cooking garlic/onions, baking bread, chocolate chip cookies!

@sensitivepantry: Those may be some of my favorite cooking smells - garlic, bread, cookies.

@jo_jo_ba: lol, I read “garlic bread cookies” - now that’s a combo!

@fourchickens: For the extreme garlic eaters…:)

@sensitivepantry: Oh, that might be a new one. Not sure about its appeal, tho!

@jo_jo_ba: sad thing is I would totally try them… like savoury biscotti

@fourchickens: I agree. Sounds like a yummy idea. Maybe time for some recipe developing??

Who am I to deny a challenge like that? The wheels started turning. I’d been meaning to experiment with savory biscotti and Garlic Bread “Cookies” seemed like a good place to start.

What transpired next was an exploration into biscotti of all types. Researching recipes is a favorite hobby of mine. After checking into what’s going on out there I put my own mark on what I’ve learned and the rest is history.

The resulting biscotti is a rich, spicy little number chock-full of flavor. There’s a hint of garlic but it isn’t overpowering. Added in—a healthy heap of black pepper for spiciness, grated Pecorino Romano because I like my garlic bread cheesy, and sun-dried tomatoes just because. (Yep, that’s why they’re that interesting shade of orange!)

Mix everything together. Bake it in the oven. And, you have a Garlic Bread Biscotti. These are definitely not for everyone and they’re not the type of “cookie” where you’ll eat a plateful in one sitting. So, if you decide to try them pack some away in your freezer and bring them out for that perfect meal—or just a flavorful savory snack.

It’s easy to dream of warming a few in the oven—just enough to crisp up—to pair with a cup of soup. (Chicken Escarole Soup comes to mind.) It’s summer but, here in NJ we’re having a cold, rainy one so soup and warm savory biscotti are not out of the question.

I’ll continue to play with this recipe because it has so many possibilities. But, for now, this one, though unusual, is a keeper. Mangia!

PS—Thanks to my two friends for the inspiration, encouragement, and above all fun! Follow them on Twitter or visit their blogs.

@jo_jo_ba writes about baking and cooking at Yummy Smells

@fourchickens shares her recipes at Four Chickens

Garlic Bread Biscotti

2 flax eggs  

1 cup sorghum 

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/8 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup oat flour

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper (optional)

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

2 tablespoons honey

3/8 cup olive oil

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes (optional)

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, roasted & minced

3 tablespoons rice or other non-dairy milk

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix 2 tablespoons ground flax meal with 6 tablespoons warm water to create two flax eggs.

Combine the dry ingredients: sorghum, tapioca, cornmeal, oat flour, baking powder xanthan gum, salt, pepper (if using) and grated cheese. Whisk all ingredients together.

Dice the sundried tomatoes and pat them dry of any oil. Gently mix them into the dry ingredients making sure they don’t clump together. (You might try tossing them with a little sorghum flour before mixing them into the dry ingredients.)*

Put the gelled flax egg in a large bowl. Whisk in the honey, olive oil, and garlic. Whisk each ingredient in thoroughly before adding the next.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a large spoon to form a stiff dough.

Turn the dough out onto the cookie sheet and spread it out forming a log about 5 inches across and 5/8 inches high. A rubber spatula works well for shaping the dough.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool for about 15-20 minutes and then transfer the warm biscotti log to a cutting board.

Cut the log into 1/2 inch strips, transferring them back onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake again for about 10-12 minutes until just beginning to brown. Flip and bake another 5 minutes. (Watch them carefully during this step to make sure they don’t burn.)

*I made my biscotti in a food processor but this was not optimal since this is a heavy dough. And, as you can see the food processor blade mixed the sun-dried tomatoes throughout the dough and colored it orange. I would have preferred to have beautiful dots of sun-dried tomato throughout the dough.

PRINT RECIPE

Sticky Cinnamon Rolls

Updated

This is a bit of a cheater recipe—it’s last month’s Cinnamon Cream Scones recipe reinvented as Sticky Cinnamon Rolls.

Work has been so all-consuming I haven’t had a chance to bake or even cook as much as I’d like. I had a break this morning and decided to make scones. They’re easy and they’re good. And, I craved something carbolicious. (I have GF treats from the health food store in the cupboard but, hmm, let’s just say homemade is better.)

While measuring the dry ingredients my mind started wandering. And, the idea of cinnamon rolls kind of crept in. I’ve never made them and haven’t eaten one in years. They just popped into my head and once there that was it. I knew the dough for the scones was pliable and thought, “Let’s do this.”

I adjusted the recipe slightly - omitting the sweet white rice and replacing it with the same amount of tapioca flour. I thought it might make a softer dough that would be more like a cinnamon roll. Not too bad.

So here you go — it’s a cheater recipe that really doesn’t have much of a recipe at all. (And, it may require some future tweaking or fiddling but if I do that I’ll keep you posted.)

Sticky Cinnamon Rolls

(The italicized notes reflect updates to the recipe. Read the Update below for more details.)

1 recipe Cinnamon Cream Scones - omitting Sweet Rice Flour and subbing in Tapioca Flour (See the new flour blend below.)

Filling

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons Earth Balance

handful chopped walnuts

handful Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Glaze

4 or 5 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon (more or less) coconut or other non-dairy milk

A few drops of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the Cinnamon Cream Scones according to the recipe. (Replacing the flours in the original recipe with the new flour blend noted below + 1 tablespoon baking powder.) Place the dough in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut the Earth Balance in until it is thoroughly incorporated into the sugar cinnamon mixture. Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Dust a pastry mat with sorghum or rice flour and turn the dough out onto it. Pat it down shaping it into a thick rectangle. Sprinkle a little more flour over the dough and start to roll it out with a rolling pin making sure that it doesn’t stick to the mat. (I have an ancient Tupperware pastry mat that’s excellent for this.) You want to roll out the dough into a rectangle that’s about 6 or 7 inches wide and 12 inches long. The final product will be about 1/4 inch or more in thickness.

Spread the cinnamon sugar mixture over the dough keeping it about 1/4 inch from the edge. You’re going to start carefully rolling the long edge until it becomes a long roll. Using a very sharp knife cut the roll into about 12 one-inch slices. I put each slice in a muffin pan that had liners in it. They fit perfectly. Alternatively arrange them side-by-side in a rectangular baking pan - sides touching.

Pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Mine took the full 25 minutes - they were bubbling slightly when I took them out.

Prepare the glaze by mixing the confectioners sugar, coconut milk, and vanilla together. Adjust to the desired consistency (mine was pretty thick) by adding more milk or sugar as needed.

Drizzle the glaze over still warm muffins and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

PRINT RECIPE

Update on Dec 31, 2009 by Nancy Kohler

As promised I worked a bit on this recipe and the result is MUCH better. They’re cooling now on my counter but I just had to eat one steaming hot from the oven.

Here’s what I did:

Make the Cinnamon Cream Scones recipe using this flour blend: 1 cup sorghum, 3/4 cup tapioca, 1/2 cup brown rice (or Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour) and all the other ingredients listed. Add 1 tablespoon baking powder to the dry ingredients.

Follow the directions above for the filling (or be creative and make your own filling) and forming of the cinnamon rolls. I used a piece of parchment on the bottom and top of the dough for rolling. The dough was a bit less firm this time so I refrigerated it for 15 minutes or so and then worked quickly. The bottom layer of parchment helped to start the rolling process.

After the Cinnamon Rolls were slightly cooled I drizzled them with a glaze made from about 3 or 4 tablespoons of confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon coconut milk and a few drops of vanilla.

We had them for breakfast (I’m the only GF eater here) and everyone loved them. So happy!