Goodbye November, hellooo December, aka the start of the holiday season. I don’t know about you, but the first of December signals the start of: SNOW (or skiing, which is the only good thing about snow), peppermint mochas or gingerbread lattes (so many lattes), scarves, curling up next to the wood stove and watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (yes, it’s a family tradition), and the time of the year where it’s ok to indulge. AKA there will be a surplus of cookies in my house this month. Because cookies and the holidays naturally go together, am I right?

So based on this state of mind, I decided to make gingerbread biscotti to kickstart this wondrous time of year. I used a basic gingerbread biscotti recipe from Fine Cooking but then made my own tweaks to it. Like throwing in dried cranberries and apricots that I reconstituted in good ol’ Grand Marnier, and then adding crystallized ginger to the batter to add another level to the gingerbread flavor.

After pulling the loaves out of the oven, slicing them, and then baking them a second time, these biscotti taste like the epitome of warm, Christmas-y goodness.

Molasses, ginger, and a little bit of liqueur up the ante on this cookie that combines gingerbread and biscotti. If you really want to indulge, drizzling these with melted dark chocolate would be wonderful as well. Enjoy!

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Grand Marnier Gingerbread Biscotti

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup Grand Marnier

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

1/4 cup molasses

2 eggs

 

Reconstitute the cranberries and apricots by combining them in a plastic ziplock bag with the Grand Marnier. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and let sit for one hour.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and baking soda. Mix on low speed until combined. Add the cranberry and apricot mixture (including the Grand Marnier), pecans, and ginger and mix on low speed just to combine. Add the molasses and eggs and mix until the dough comes together, about 1-2 minutes.

Dump the dough out onto a floured board and divide equally in half. Shape each half into a log that is about 10 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place each log on the cookie sheet, about 4 inches apart.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until the tops are slightly browned and spring back when gently pressed. Remove from the oven and let cool about 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

Transfer each loaf to a cutting board, and with a serrated knife, saw each log diagonally into 3/4 inch wide slices. Transfer the slices to the cookie sheet (it’s ok if they touch since they will not spread the second time you bake them).

Bake about 15-20 minutes or until the biscotti are brown and dry to your taste, keeping in mind the biscotti will harden slightly as they cool. Let cool completely on a rack.

Makes: about two dozen biscotti