Archives for December 2010

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti with Peppermint White Chocolate Drizzle

One thing you need to know about me is I’m a dunker. I need a glass of milk with me at all times when having any type of cookie or chocolate. I’ve even been known to pour milk over my cake (you’ve got to try it!). So biscotti is right up my alley, but this time I thought I would make a biscotti that says “Christmas”.

What’s better than the aromatic smell of gingerbread baking? So I searched until I found a recipe for gingerbread biscotti that had great reviews, and I think I found one. This particular recipe isn’t overly sweet or heavy; it’s light and crunchy like a good biscotti should be. And the peppermint white chocolate drizzled over it makes it the perfect little Italian treat.

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti (adapted from food.com)

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I grated whole nutmeg for added flavor)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In your mixer, combine the egg and egg whites, brown sugar, molasses and vanilla until smooth.
Stir the egg mixture into dry ingredients just until moistened; fold in pecans; cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
Divide dough in half; shape each half into a ball; on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray, or parchment paper; roll each ball into a 14-inch x 1 1/2-inch rectangle.

 

Bake at 325 for 24 to 28 minutes or until firm to touch; remove from the oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees.
Cool for five minutes then transfer to cutting board. Cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 1/2-inch slices; place cut side down on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray; bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Peppermint White Chocolate

6 oz. Baker’s White Chocolate
1/4 teaspoon Peppermint extract

Place chocolate in microwave safe container, and add peppermint extract. Microwave according to directions and heat in small increments, stirring each time until fully melted. Making sure your biscotti is completely cooled, line up and drizzle chocolate over them with a  spoon.

Let the chocolate cool and harden, and place in an air safe container. Or if you’re like me, pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk and enjoy! Also great with any of your favorite hot beverages like cocoa.

Yesterday we featured our favorites from our 12 Days of Christmas Show-Off. But we left a little something out. Okay, a LOT of something out. We found Carolyn, from Homework, when she linked up four great projects to us. We wanted to keep her all to ourselves, but she’s too good not to share!

Homework is a blog full of inspiring tutorials and crafty design projects that are sure to get anyone’s creative juices flowing. Carolyn’s impeccable style and classy eye are evident in everything she does. Here are some examples:

Faux Birch Napkin Rings

Snowy House Place Cards

Special Gift Wrap

Pom Pom Snowman Ornament

Holiday kissing ball

There are many more treasures, so go on over there and tell Carolyn the WhipperChicks sent ya!

We want to give a tremendous “THANK YOU” to everyone who participated in our 12 Days of Christmas Show-Off Linky Party. There were so many great projects linked-up. We wanted to feature so many more than we possibly can, so I encourage everyone to go check out the links again, and be inspired!

But we do have a few we would like to show you again. Each of us WhipperChicks chose an absolute favorite, and then we all agreed on several more that we had to showcase as well.

We will start with our personal favorites:

Heather loved this Felt Tree Stocking from Scrapalicious Bytes. The felt Christmas Tree is gorgeous, and the detail perfect. We also really loved her Glitter Ornaments, and Pomegranate Molasses Gift Idea. Actually, we loved her whole blog, so go and check her out!

I couldn’t resist this Paper Fan Garland from Life is Sweet. She made the paper fans into ornaments, and then strung them across her mantle! And the fans are made out of sheet music. Ingenious. Go check out the rest of her holiday décor, you will love it!

Jamie loved this Snowman Kit from The Fickle Pickle. Just add snow! Give these to all your neighbors, and can you imagine all the cute snowmen in the neighborhood dressed up with their hats and scarves? Best neighborhood ever! We also loved her Festive Flowers.

When Katie saw these Ice Candle Holders from Creative Juices Décor her heart leapt like it does whenever she sees a beautiful and unique creation. She said, “What a great idea! Maybe it’s because I live in a desert and can only dream of a white Christmas that made me love these so. I love the idea of walking up to my house and having a row of these along my yard all lit up on Christmas Eve. How beautiful would that be?!? All I can say is I love it, great idea!”

Whitney chose this Anthropologie inspired Ornament from A Blonde’s DIY Life. She said, “I’m not really a “crazy crafter”, so I don’t have fancy tools or anything, so I really liked that this was just a bulb, paint, spray adhesive and glitter… I could so do that!  And just look at it, it’s fabulous!  I’m definitely a huge fan.” We also liked her Mirrored Wreath a lot too!

Kristin’s favorite was this Window Sill Mantle from Being Grown Up.  She said, “I just like that I can relate to her. No mantle for us either and I really admire her tenacity to make things work and figure it out! The overall project was really impressive.”

Christene loved these Gingerbread Truffles from Me and My Pink Mixer.  She said, “A great original idea from the tried and true oreo varieties. Can they taste at all as decadent? I don’t know but I’m willing to give them a try!”

 

Here are a few more we just had to show you! And then come back tomorrow for a very special highlight from our party!

 

Ornament Hanger from Can’t Stop making Things, and Christmas Topiary from The Autocrat.

 

Cinnamon Stick Ornament from Stepping Thru Crazy, and Ruffled Ribbon Trees from Eat, Dress, Live.

 

Felt Ribbon Wreath from Sweet Tooth, and Christmas Trivia Game from Prettie Parties.

 

Christmas Ornaments from Wendy’s Hat, and Handmade Paper Wreath from Sassy’s Ramblin’s.

 

Jar of Cocoa from Craftberry Bush, and Crayon Wreath from The Ballard Bunch.

If you were featured today, grab a featured button!

Again, a huge thanks to everyone who linked up!

I participated in Craftaholics Anonymous’ Handmade Gift Exchange this year.

Linda, from Craftaholics Anonymous paired me up with another crafter to exchange gifts with. The totally crazy thing, out of 853 people to sign up for the exchange, I get paired with one of my dear friends who had recently moved away!  It was sooo great to work on a project for her, it made it seem like she was still here and ready for a fun Christmas girl’s night out!!  Her name is Danielle, and I sent her that sweater-flower wreath I showed you a couple weeks ago.

Today I wanted to show you what Danielle sent me. She also sent me a wreath. It’s made using crepe paper rosettes. She must have labored for hours painstakingly creating each one! Look how beautiful it is.

 

Thanks Danielle! I love it!

By the way, Danielle has a fun new Etsy shop called Two Lillies Boutique.  She has fun hair accessories and key chains that are aaamazing.  She is my lovely friend who taught me how to make hair bows and she made a fabric key chain for me that I LOVE!!  So check out her shop, you’ll love her stuff!!

Today is the last day to submit projects to our 12 Days of Christmas Show-Off! Tomorrow we will feature our favorite projects. I can’t wait!