A Christmas on the road. That is the story for us this year. Four days, three states, and two extended families. Over bunches of rivers through lots of woods, and over one very large bay.

Whenever I go to someone’s house, I always offer to bring something, and the request is usually for dessert. As you may have guessed from reading the archives around here, dessert is kind of my specialty. But with being away so long, and with multiple destinations, it makes it really hard to carry something elaborate, like a cake, beyond the first stop.

So what do you take? Biscotti! The magic cookie that lasts forever, and is as fresh 2 weeks later as it was the day it was made. Luckily, Mother Nature gave me an early Christmas gift the weekend before the holiday, so I was able to devote an entire Saturday to making these marvelous twice baked cookies.

When I went looking on the interwebs for a biscotti recipe, I wanted something that screamed “CHRISTMAS!” And what says Christmas more than oranges and cranberries. It flashes me back to Christmas mornings with an orange in the toe of your stocking, be it a real orange or a chocolate one. And cranberries take me to the holiday table, with dishes of cranberry passed to adorn that ever present holiday bird.

Orange Cranberry and Almond Biscotti
Adapted from All Recipes

A lot of biscotti can be kind of understated, with mild flavoring. So I looked for a recipe with bold flavors that would really stick out on the Christmas cookie plate. I started with this orange cranberry recipe because it included orange zest AND orange liquor (Cointreau anyone?) for an extra orange kick. I used a half a cup of almond meal instead of slivered almonds, because I’m not a huge fan of chunks of nuts in my cookies, but I still wanted that almond flavor. And finally–and on a whim–I added about a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves just to kick it up. Cause it’s Christmas. And we want our recipe spicy!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup almond meal

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Stir in the orange zest and orange liqueur. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cloves and cinnamon, stir into the creamed mixture, then stir in the almonds and dried cranberries.
On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a log about 1 1/2 inches wide and 10 inches long. Set the rolls lengthwise on a baking sheet at least 3 inches apart, and flatten slightly.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm to the touch and slightly brown on the top.
Cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then slice each log crosswise, at a diagonal, into 1/2 inch wide slices. Lay them cut side down on the baking sheet and return to the oven for ten minutes, turn them over and bake for 10 more minutes. Cool on wire racks, store in an airtight container. These keep for over a month.

The perfect Christmas dessert for holidays on the road! And if there are leftovers, they’ll still be fresh enough for a trip to the office in the new year!

Let me just start out by saying–Baltimore has some really excellent food bloggers, and I feel really fortunate to be part of the group!

Last Friday night I had the opportunity to meet some of these lovely ladies and one gent, at a blogger gathering hosted by Dara of Dining Dish. There was tons of food, wine (including some lovely pink fizzy rose), and good company all around.

Unfortunately though, I didn’t get any pictures of this great gathering because, well, I was being sort of a chicken. I had never met any of my fellow food bloggers before, so I wasn’t sure how they would all feel about me waltzing with a camera and a bag full of gear. But, in retrospect, I realize I was being silly–these are bloggers who LIVE through pictures, of course they would all come armed with cameras!

But luckily, I DID take pictures of what I took to the party–Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti. I know it seems out of the ordinary for me (ie there’s no sugar in the recipe, and instead of cinnamon or ginger, black pepper) but the food call for the party was for appetizers, and it seemed like this biscotti was the natural meeting of my love of baking and appetizerland. So I gave it a try, to excellent results!

[If you do want to see pictures of the meetup, Sweet Mary took some, which you can see here.]

Parmesan Black-Pepper Biscotti
Adapted from Epicurious, although the recipe was originally published in Gourmet

The blurb on Epicurious claimed these would be fabulous cocktail party food, especially with red wine. After several days of eating these, I can confirm that they are indeed great with red wine, but also beer, water, and while painting your kitchen. The only adaptation I made to this recipe was to use skim milk instead of whole. Also, I didn’t have a spice grinder, and after briefly considering using my coffee grinder (what a bad idea THAT would have been) I decided to grind all that pepper by hand. It was a wrist workout for sure!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
• 4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated (2 1/4 cups)
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Pulse peppercorns in grinder until coarsely ground.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, 2 cups cheese, and 1 tablespoon ground black pepper in a large bowl. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk 3 eggs with milk and add to flour mixture, stirring with a fork until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and quarter dough. Using well-floured hands, form each piece into a slightly flattened 12-inch-long log (about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch high). Transfer logs to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging logs about 3 inches apart.

Whisk remaining egg and brush some over logs, then sprinkle tops of logs evenly with remaining 1/4 cup cheese and 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper. Bake, rotating sheets 180 degrees and switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until logs are pale golden and firm, about 30 minutes total. Cool logs to warm on sheets on a rack, about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Carefully transfer 1 warm log to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices with a serrated knife. Arrange slices, cut sides down, in 1 layer on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining logs, transferring slices to sheets. Bake, turning over once, until golden and crisp, 35 to 45 minutes total. Cool biscotti on baking sheets on racks, about 15 minutes.

Yumlish with a subtle peppercorn finish. I think these might make an appearance at this year’s Ratskellar Christmas soirée.

Thanks to all of the Baltimore Bloggers who came out on Friday night, including:

Baltimore Snacker
Bon Appetit Hon
Dining Dish
Kitchenography
LoveFeast Table
Minx Eats
Pigtown Pigout
Strawberries in Paris
Sweet Mary
Taste of Baltimore
What’s To Eat Baltimore