Peppermint Biscotti

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 36
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup of coarsely chopped peppermint candy (round peppermint pinwheels or candy canes both work equally well)
• red food coloring
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• red food coloring

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 375°f line a cookie sheet with foil and set aside.
• 2 beat butter for 30 seconds in a large mixing bowl.
• 3 add sugar, baking powder and salt, beat until well combined.
• 4 add eggs and peppermint extract.
• 5 gradually beat in as much flour as you can and stir in the remaining flour.
• 6 mix in the chopped candies.
• 7 form the biscotti: divide dough in half and tint one portion of dough with food coloring. (i dyed my dough a dark pink with liquid food coloring…if you wish for a red dough, use red paste food coloring. )
• 8 divide each half of dough into three equal portions.
• 9 roll each portion into a 14 inch long rope on a lightly floured surface. place a rope of each color side by side on the foil lined cookie sheet and twist ropes around each other several times.
• 10 flatten twists to a 2 inch width. repeat this process with the remaining ropes of dough and place each twist about 4 inches apart on cookie sheet.
• 11 bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned and tops are slightly cracked. cool completely on cookie sheet.
• 12 reduce oven temperature to 300°f
• 13 carefully peel away foil and transfer twists to a wooden chopping board. use a serrated knife to cut each twist diagonally into ½ inch thick slices.
• 14 place slices onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
• 15 remove from oven, turn over and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until biscotti slices are dry. allow biscotti to cool completely.
• 16 to make peppermint icing: combine milk, peppermint extract and sugar. if icing is too thick, add milk in tiny amounts until it is of a drizzling consistency.
• 17 lightly drizzle all biscotti in a zigzag fashion.
• 18 add red food coloring to leftover icing (if mixture thickens, add a little more milk) and lightly drizzle biscotti in the opposite direction of the icing drizzle zigzags.
• 19 eat within 3 days and store in an airtight container. these freeze well (just make sure you drizzle with icing after freezing, not before).