Cookies - Biscotti

This recipe is now in The New Best of BetterBaking.com, Marcy Goldman Whitecap Books 2009. Here is the recipe headnote on this intriguing recipe.

Want to manifest better biscotti? Well, you need to know The Secret of Baker Street. There is a secret to biscotti – many secrets and I share tons of them in my cookbooks. But recently, even I found yet another secret that blew the lid open on what even I know about biscotti. (It is included in the recipe instructions and it will, guaranteed, change how you do biscotti). This recipe contains ‘the secret’ and then some.  It is a symphony of double-caramel batter, studded with chunks of chocolate, hunky almonds and chocolate syrup ripples running through a crisp, crumbly biscotti that is totally divine.

A buttery shortbread base is the throne to a special caramel filling all topped off with a yet another unique chocolate triumphurate crown. No wonder these are Millionaire Bars –they are a treasure. Forget about the economy, breathe in and out, and munch on one of these.If you like Twix bars but even better - this is just the ticket.

This famed recipe is the king of urban legend recipes – recipes that are passed around and have an unlikely (but charming tale attached to them). This one, also known as the Nieman Marcus $250.00 Cookie Recipe as well as the Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe is a classic.

Totally awesome granola-style cookies. A touch of maple gives them a Canuck/Vermont flavor. Pecans, sour cherries, raisins, cranberries and tiny specs of dried cranberries make these crisp-chewy cookies trail blazers.The slick and sumptuous maple vanilla glaze also doesn’t hurt.  If the cranberries and cherries you have are pretty wizened and dry, plump them first in hot water, drain, dry and then add them to the recipe.

Tiny butter cookies sandwiched together with a peppermint patty or an After Eight Mint. These are better than anything Pepperidge Farm offers. Make them ultra thin or just thin enough – they are amazing either way.

Shortening, margarine, and various "kernel oils" are the foundation for many commercial cookies. This BetterBaking.com version of those commercial cookies kids seem to love use instead, the somewhat healthier new non trans fats shortening from Crisco, and pure, miniature chocolate chips . Make these small to medium sized cookies for a tender crunch. These are almost like the store but better.

How many types of almond biscotti can you make? Let me count the ways. This one features a deeply almond-fused biscotti batter that showcases marzipan, with crunchy ground almonds, raw whole almonds and a layer of sugared almond crunch. It makes grandiose biscotti with a nice ribbon of stuff in the center. These are impossibly huge, granted but, serve them that way; let guests break them in half, and nibble. They also pack well to send as gifts.

Inspired by Ben and Jerry's wonderful Cherry Garcia ice cream.This buttery cookie offers the tang of chewy, dried sour cherries, along with chunks of white and dark chocolate. Macadamia nuts are optional but terrific. Use the best white chocolate you can find.

These are just great - oversized, thick but crisp out edges with densely chewy centers.  Best of all, they feature wonderful, slightly crackly tops and look like they were plucked out of a general store cookie jar.  You can also make them smaller but these large versions - about 3 inches diameter, are dynamite. All butter is better of course but part shortening, in these cookies, makes them commercial - sad but true.....

Of course I shouldn’t call them Dr. Oz Approved but how else to make you sit up and take notice? These are delicious and healthy and soul-and-body satisfying. They whip up in seconds and have all you need in the way of complex carbs. If I could have snuck in a little kale I would have. They have interesting old grains, the benefits of raw almonds, the good-for-your-brain pumpkin seeds and coconut oil (both great, says Oz), and hemp (for I-forget-what) and the vitamins and fiber of dried fruit and the perk of fresh cranberries. One of these zaps your appetite in a wholesome way. This is the sort of cookie to pack in the car so that when hunger strikes, you reach for these good carbs.