Biscotti is my favorite cookie to bake for friends, to give away as gifts, or just to eat alone.  I'm flexible.  This family favorite recipe comes straight from my secret cookie book.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted and chopped

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Beat sugar, butter, orange peal and eggs in large electric mixer bowl on medium speed.  Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir in almonds.  Divide dough in half.  Shape each half into rectangle, 10x3 inches, on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake about 20 minute or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes.  Cut crosswise into 1/2 - inch slices.  Turn slices cut sides down on cookie sheet.

Bake about 15 minutes or until crisp and light brown.  Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.  After they've cooled, the biscotti have easily be stored in a resealable storage bag.  Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Now for those who like illustrations

Unbaked biscotti shaped into 10x3 inch rectangles.

Baked 20 min. and now cooling on cookie sheet.

Cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices- use a cutting board.

Blowouts happens- don't sweat it- just eat it.

Ready for second baking for 15-20 minutes.

Light brown & crispy cookies- Ready to eat!

Notes:

It's important to toast the almonds, so you can taste them in the biscotti. If you skip toasting, you may as well not add them at all.

Never use margarine in this recipe, ALWAYS BUTTER.  It makes a big difference in flavor.

You can use lemon zest in place of orange zest, and skip the almonds.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

If you enjoy crispy, chocolate cookies with nuts, have I got a cookie for you!

The name implied to me that the recipe produced a soft, deep chocolate cookie.  Instead, they have a mild chocolate flavor like with traditional chocolate chip cookies, except all melted together.  The macadamia nuts add a buttery and salty tinge to the afterbite that makes me instinctly want to take another bite.  With a tall glass of cold milk on the side, I had to seriously cut myself off after the second cookie.

Now, these cookies are really no more evil in calories than any other cookie.  my secret cookie book says one cookie has 135 calories.  If you care about that sort of thing.  Of course, if you're counting calories, you're probably not reading this post.  So who am I talking to?!  Sorry, I've bunny trailed.

Let's just start baking, shall we?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted & cooled
• 1 egg

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Finely chop 1 square of unsweetened chocolate.  Use a small microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate at 70% power for 30 seconds, check for melted edges.  Nuke 10 to 15 seconds until melted around the edges.  Stir until smooth.

Beat sugar, butter, vanilla, melted chocolate and egg in a large electric mixer bowl on medium speed.  Mix all the dry ingredients together then stir into the wet ingredients.

Use a 1 inch scooper to drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart on to greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes until almost no indentation remains when touched in the center.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from sheet to wire rack.

Pour a cold glass of milk and you're ready to be a kid again!

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

These Banana Oat Cookies remind me of Banana Bread.  They're soft and moist, and loaded with chewy golden raisins and a little shredded coconut here and there.  Very good, very hard to stop eating.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)
• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Get the oven hot to 350ºF.  Spray oil on cookie sheet.

Beat sugar and butter until fluffy in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed.  Stir in egg and bananas.

In a separate bowl, add ALL the remaining ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet in thirds, run mixer on low speed.  Stir until dry ingredients are moistened.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a 1 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes until edges are golden brown and almost no indentation remains when touched in center.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely before storing.

These cookies are VERY GOOD the next day. They become moist after being stored in an airtight container, so it's important to cool them completely before storing.

This recipe idea came from my secret cookie book.  I added the raisins and coconuts, and skipped the suggested vanilla frosting.  There are ways I could have made this recipe healthier; next time I'll use them.

I'll definitely make these again the next time I'm craving banana bread but don't have enough ripe bananas on hand.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

In all the twelve years Charlie and I have been married, I've NEVER baked his all time favorite cookie from scratch.  (I can hear the air being sucked out of the room.)  Of course, I love my husband!

While I'm confessing,  I guess it's high time I let you know where I get all my cookie recipes.  The book that is my absolute favorite cookie slash sweet craving cookbook.  I turn to it EVERY TIME I want to bake something sweet for family and friends and it has never let me down.

HERE IT IS, MY SECRET BOOK TO BAKING SWEETS

Click the image to get the book.

No, it's not hoity toity.  It's probably not even fashionable to mention in the least little bit, but I don't really care.  This book works for me! I've laughed to myself, many times, when folks have eaten the treats I make from this book and think, I'M the BEST cook ever.  HA! I was only following the directions.

Although I love listening and gathering bits of information about the science behind cooking, the science of baking makes my brain go numb, and my mind's eye glazes over at the thought of experimental baking.  I don't have the time & resources to set myself up for such failures.  When my family wants something to sweet to eat, I go for the traditional favorites first and grab my gal, Betty.

So when Charlie sent me the text message that he was having a rough day at work, I knew I needed to have something comforting for him to come home to, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.  I turned to Betty and she came through for me in the most delicious way.

HERE'S ALL IT TOOK

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (6 ounces) white baking bars, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) or 2 bags (2.25 ounces) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350º F degrees. Beat sugars, butter & shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Mix in vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, chopped white chocolate and nuts.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a third at a time until all is flour is moistened or absorbed.  Do not over stir.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a 1 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until LIGHT, light brown on the edges.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes BEFORE removing from the cookie sheet.  Continue cooling on wire rack.

NOTE: It's important to bake these cookies on the light side.  They should look under cooked in the center and light brown on the edges.  They will finish setting as they cool on the cookie sheet and have a smoother finish.  I didn't learn this until I baked the last batch of cookies.  As you can see from the photo above, the cookies have cracks.  This does NOT affect their flavor at all.  But I noticed that the last batch of cookies baked for 9 minutes had a creamier texture than the cookies baked for 12 minutes. The smooth 9 minute cookies are shown below, they were eaten immediately after the photo was taken.

By now, all the cookies are gone.  No one cared about or even mentioned the cracks, they just kept going back for more cookies.  The extra chopped nuts really make these cookies hard to put down.  They weren't so rich that one cookie was enough.  Unfortunately.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

Buttery cinnamony cookies- YUM! Do you call them Snickerdoodle Cookies or Snickerdoodles? They are my son's FAVORITE cookie of all time.  Of course, he's merely 9 years old, I'm sure there's time for other cookies in his life.  My favorite part is how they start off with this soft crunchy texture then they just dissolve on the tongue like cotton candy.

This recipe comes straight from my secret cookie book.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Mixed together in a small bowl and set aside. This is what you'll use to coat the dough balls.

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter or 2 sticks, softened

• 2 eggs

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt

Heat oven to 400ºF degrees.  Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, the shortening and butter in a large electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy.  Add in the eggs.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Reduce electric mixer speed to Stir or Low; gradually add in dry ingredients a third at a time. As soon as all the flour is moistened, stop stirring.

Set up your assembly area. Dough bowl - cinnamon sugar bowl- ungreased cookie sheet.

Use a 1 inch scooper to measure out and drop dough balls into cinnamon coating.  Roll the dough ball around until well coated.  Shake off excess coating, then move to cookie sheet.  Place dough balls 2 inches apart.

Bake about 10 minutes or until centers are almost set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Cooking Note: The dough is sticky.  Using the scooper and wearing a pair of latex medical gloves, makes the task easier to handle and easier to clean up.  I wouldn't make these cookies without them.

Do not attempt to flatten the dough balls.  They will flatten beautifully on their own and make that wonderful cracked look.

And finally, just like the recipe reads, bake until almost set.  They're perfect when they still look a little wet in the center.  These cookies firm up as they cool down.  Over baking them, even just a couple of minutes, will make them crumble quicker later on.

Alright, that's it.  Totally fun to make alone, or with your kids. Their always a crowd pleaser anytime of the year.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

Yummy Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Try not to eat all the dough. Feel free to chill it if you want but you can work with it now.

Little Martha Stewart type note here - when I make this recipe for grown-up functions, I use cocoa powder instead of the sugar to flatten.  It makes a less sweet cookie.  Also, I leave off eyes and other body parts.  Most adults prefer to eat a cookie without eyes.

Cool on wire rack.

You could always put a popsicle stick under these and make lollipop cookies.  You know I love me some food on a stick.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

For all of you that love the chewy corners from a batch of brownies, you'll enjoy these cookies.

This recipe makes just over 2 dozen small cookies.

LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 small egg
• 1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven o 350F degrees. Beat sugar, butter, milk and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed.  Mix all the dry ingredients together in medium bowl, then stir into wet mix.

Use a 1 inch scooper to drop dough on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Just so you know: The dough is very soft.

That's why I recommend the 1 inch scooper for easy handling and uniform size cookies.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

The kids and I just came from the post office.  Our first box of baked goods for Operation Baking Gals is on it's way!  The kids have totally grooved on this whole experience and are ready to bake some more.

If you haven't had the chance, take it now to listen to my interview with Susan from Operation Baking Gals.  It's never too late to join a baking team or become a host of a baking team.  Just email Susan and let her know.

SO HERE'S WHAT WE BAKED FOR THE SOLDIERS

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Banana Nut Bars

All simple recipes to make.  Everything was already in my pantry.  And these baked goods will hold up for the long haul.

The Banana Nut Bars were particularly MOIST & AWESOME.  They almost didn't make into the box.  It took a lot of self control to pack them all, minus three for taste testing purposes.  I had to know if they tasted right!

For More Information On Other Goodies to Send Along
Check out the comments section of the Enlist in Operation Baking Gals post.

Even if you don't have a chance right now to get involved, I highly recommend simply reading over the Operation Baking Gals blog.  Take a moment to enjoy the stories and feel the excitement being stirred up by all the hosts and bakers.  This is a monthly event so you can always get involved next month.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

If you're looking for a cookie that has some chew to it and it's not overly sweet, these Simple Oatmeal Raisin cookies are perfect for you.

These cookies made it into the Operation Baking Gals box that was shipped to soldiers serving overseas.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 cup golden raisins

Heat oven to 350F degrees.

Beat all ingredients except oats, dlour and raisins in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed.  Stir in oats, flour and raisins.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (I used a 1 1/2 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown.  Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

These taste great with a glass of milk.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.

This is as simple and delicious as bean soup can get, next to opening a can. Don't make me open up the can!

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this recipe. It's loaded with good flavor and very filling. It's was created from NOT having enough leftover cooked pinto beans, but LOTS of bean broth.

HERE'S ALL I DID

I mashed 1 1/2 cups of cooked pinto beans, very well.  Then added enough bean broth to make it soup.  Warmed it up over medium heat, seasoned with salt & pepper.  Served with shredded cheese, sliced jalapenos, and tortilla chips. (I added a few drops of Tabasco to my bowl, yum!)

It's not gourmet cuisine, but it's still good eats when there's not much to eat.

Pick up the NEW book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois from Amazon here.