German Roast Pork Knuckle (Schweinshaxe) Recipe

Schweinshaxe

Chocolate Ginger Biscotti Recipe

Chocolate Ginger Biscotti

Sometime ago I made chocolate ginger brownies. Chocolate and ginger is not a very common combination but it worked so I decided to try the combination again with biscotti. And guess what, it worked again. 

This was my first attempt at making biscotti. When searching for recipes and reading reviews I noticed that generally speaking there are two contrasting opinions on biscotti. The majority seem to be fans while a minority think it is a teeth breaker. I must say I was a little concerned that I might fall in the teeth breaker category, but thankfully I did not. The texture of the biscotti was perfect and addictive. It was light and crispy. The chocolate ginger flavour combination worked harmoniously, ginger flavor was subtle and added just the right amount of heat to complement the chocolate. 

Biscotti’s can be made with or without butter/oil.  I went for the middle ground, using a small amount of oil. This worked perfectly for me. Since I used medium sized eggs instead of large eggs as recommended in the recipe, I substituted a tablespoon of oil for each egg.

Using polenta in biscotti's is uncommon, as a matter of fact I only found one recipe and that was created by Giada De Laurentiis. I like polenta in baked goods so I decided to go with it. Polenta added graininess or grittiness to the biscotti. I liked it. If you don’t like polenta I guess you can substitute with plain flour.

Beetroot Chocolate Fudge Cookies Recipe - Cookie Bloghop

Beetroot chocolate fudge cookies

Why aren’t there beetroot cookies when there are beetroot cakes, pumpkin cakes and pumpkin cookies? There is only one way to find out, to try it, and I am glad I did. In addition to the cookies having a visually appealing pinkish hue, they are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and delicious all around. And you don't even need to use artificial coloring to get that color.

For those of you who don’t like beetroot, and I guess there is a fair few of you, these cookies don’t taste beety and earthy. There is a very subtle beetroot flavor. If you were not told that the cookies contain beetroot you probably will not even guess it.

To keep the beets company I added chocolate and fudge chunks. Using fudge was a mistake since the fudge melted away, leaving gaps in some cookies. If you want to use fudge its best to melt it and pour over the cookies. Or don’t use fudge at all.

I used a mixture of plain flour and semolina to avoid the cookies having a cake like texture. Semolina gives a crispier texture. You can skip the semolina and use only regular flour if you want.