Homemade Biscotti Treats for Fall Favours

For our (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to have a go at making homemade biscotti favours that would also double aa place cards. I found the EASIEST recipe, and I was so excited to try it out. Anyone with a coffee/latte/cappucino addiction like myself should understand the yumminess that is biscotti dipped in some piping hot java.

Something about the crunchy texture of this italian twice baked cookie, that turns to a soft moist cake when emersed in coffee, makes this treat an absolute favourite of mine. Whilst the recipe looks incredibly fool proof, I found a way to mess them up a bit (when I turned the timer off for the first batch, I inadvertently turned off the oven, so the next 2 batches were just hanging out in the oven for about 10 minutes with no heat). To compensate for the oven mistake, I left them in a bit longer than I should have and they were a tad bit on the overcooked side. I was able to salvage most of them except for the chocolate ones (which were eaten despite their burnt aftertaste by my hubby's best friend).

Although Thanksgiving up north has come and gone, there's still US Thanksgiving, Halloween, and of course any random dinner party, that you can use these for. I packaged mine in clear cello bags with orange ribbon, then put each package into a small kraft bag. I grabbed some leaves from outside and wrote the names of each guest in gold pen, and secured it to the bag with green ribbon. If you'd like some fun, free halloween templates like the one above, head on over here.

Now how to make easy peezy biscotti:

1 Box Betty Crocker Cake Mix (any flavour but Super Moist White is great for regular biscotti)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 eggs

Your choice of flavour/topping ( I toasted pumpkin seeds and almonds, used some in the mix and some for sprinkling on top)

1.Heat oven to 350, or 325 for dark/non-stick pans

2. In a medium bowl, mix cake mix, eggs and oil until a dry dough forms (there may be some extra cake mix left in the bowl). Stir in your flavourings ( pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie spice/ gingerbread spice/ almonds/ m&ms).

3. On an ungreased cookie sheet, shape dough into a 15 by 4 inch rectangle using greased hands (crisco!). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

(If you want to do 2 different flavours in one batch, separate into different bowls to flavour and then shape on your cookie sheet. Here I've done almond on the left and pumpkin spice on the right.)

4. Cut rectangle crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are a deep golden brown. Cool for 5 mins, remove from cookie sheet, and cool for another 30.

5. Melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler, dip your biscotti in and place on parchment paper. You can also drizzle melted chocolate over top if you like in different colours. Sprinkle with crushed nuts or other topping and let stand until set!

There you go... It doesn't get much easier than that! It is fairly time consuming, however, so next time I might just head over to Costco ;) At least I can tell my husband's italian family that I made biscotti!