On Tuesday morning, I experimented with a biscotti recipe to see if I could substitute 1/3 cup canola oil for ½ cup butter. The recipe is Double Ginger biscotti with Pistachios, and it originally appeared in the Bon Appetit “RSVP” column. I had made it once or twice, before I had to change my way of eating, so I’d made some changes. I do not use orange zest but ½ tsp. lemon extract, and I used an equal weight of almond flour to the whole almonds which the original recipe toasts then grinds, and I add 1/2 cup crystalized ginger. Without butter, I thought the biscotti might not brown as well, so this time I added 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill powdered milk (and increasing calcium is always good for me). The dough was rather dry, so I added 2 Tbs. water. I deleted the resting period, since I did not need to let any butter in the dough become firm in the refrigerator. I don't do an egg wash, but I spritz the logs with water and sprinkle with demerara sugar. After the first bake, I cooled the pan on a rack for 25 minutes, then spritzed the logs with water. (I got this technique from KAF, for their Cinnamon Biscotti, and I always use it, as it prevents crumbling.) Five minutes later, I sliced them, then baked them standing on edge for 20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the time. I have sampled an end piece, and I am pleased with taste and texture.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

Sigh. I had to give up scones due to the butter content.

All but one of my biscotti recipes called for butter. The one that does not is the KAF Cinnamon Biscotti, but of course the cinnamon chips add a lot of saturated fat. Skeptic kindly posted some recipes for me, and we really like that pumpkin biscotti. I also made one I found on this site, but it was pretty sweet, and my husband disliked the anise. I did like the Cardamom-Tahini biscotti to which I posted a link, maybe more than a month ago. My husband disliked the cardamom--although I noted he still ate a few--so those lasted me a while.

The biscotti I made yesterday are a bit hard. Next time, I'll bake them for less than 20 minutes. However, my husband crunched through about four last night. Clearly, he does not recall that he told me he does not care for ginger!

When I was making fat-free biscotti, I used to beat the egg yolks with sugar until fluffy, and serately beat the egg whites until fluffy then I would gently fold the flour into the yolks by thirds, alternating with the egg whites. This made them lighter and fluffier and less hard.
If you are adding oil to biscotti, you can add it to the egg yolk and beat it till fluffy. Start by beating the egg yolks until fluffy and then add a little oil at a time.
One of the reasons I went over to doing full butter biscotti was because it was so much easier. I could do everything in one bowl with a good mixer.

Today I baked bread and a carrot cake (from a mix I found in the pantry; no idea where it came from or why I have it! My husband says even the cat won't eat it, but would love to eat the cream cheese frosting!) Then I made pizza for dinner and the fun began. I put it in the pre-heated oven at 375 for 25 minutes. That yielded a warm but white, soggy, yeasty, doughy crust. I upped the temp to 425 and set the timer for 10 more minutes. No change! So between the toaster oven (which did bake the dough through, but not a crispy crust) and the Jennaire griddle (which did not bake the dough quite through, but did make a crispy crust) we finlly ate pizza. And then called the appliance repair man. The Jennaire is 34 years old, but I'm hoping we just need a new element or something else simple and quick. I'm going away next week, until May 8th, and my husband is worried he won't have a stash of chocolate chip cookies to snack on. I told him he'll just have to go to the store and buy Oreos!

Thanks BakerAunt,I'll do that!

I used up the last of our orchard Winesap apples from last fall, which for the most part kept well in the cold detached garage with thermostat at 48F. We only lost one apple, although some were beginning to soften. I made that Apple Cake from Recipes from the Old Mill, which I’ve baked about four times since last fall. This time I reduced the whole wheat flour to ¾ cup, and the AP to 1 cup and instead used ½ cup of barley flour. I added 2 Tbs. flax meal and 1/3 cup powdered milk (large granule type). I used white whole wheat flour in the topping in place of the AP flour. The texture of the cake is particularly delicious, as is the taste, so I will use this combination again.