Apple Cinnamon Biscotti

Savor the flavors of fall with crunchy Apple Cinnamon Biscotti. Fill your kitchen (and your cookie jar and care packages) with the smells of baking apple and cinnamon and embrace the deliciousness of autumn. Biscotti are generally ideal care package cookies. The usually dry, crunchy texture which makes biscotti the ultimate dipping cookie, promotes a long shelf life. Plus, there are so many delicious recipes for different flavors of biscotti. However, when moisture is added with jams or fruits, that type of biscotti don’t stay fresh for much longer than a week. In order to give Apple Cinnamon Biscotti lots of apple flavor without actually adding fresh apples, I used apple juice concentrate as the liquid in this recipe which provides lots of natural flavor without changing the crunch. Because I was gifting the Apple Cinnamon Biscotti, I wanted them to be eye catching. First, the biscotti are iced with luscious apple cinnamon icing that dries firm for storing and shipping ease. Then, I combined a variety of sprinkles to make my own “Autumn Mix”. Any sprinkles in fall colors will work. I used a combination of fall leaves and two sizes of nonpareils in gold, browns, and red. Sprinkles make Apple Cinnamon Biscotti a celebration cookie.

Ingredients:
Biscotti dough:
3¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon apple juice concentrate, melted frozen apple juice concentrate

Apple Cinnamon Icing:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup apple juice concentrate, melted frozen apple juice concentrate, slightly more if needed
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Sprinkles, fall leaves combined with fall color nonpareils

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
Mix in the eggs and apple juice concentrate.
Gradually, mix in the flour mixture until combined.
Divide the dough in half and place each half on the prepared baking sheet 3 inches apart.
Form the dough into two logs approximately 11 inches long and 3 inches wide. If the dough is sticky, moisten hands to form the logs. A moistened spatula can also be used to form the dough logs.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes.
Cut the logs at an angle into ¾” slices.
Stand the slices on the cookie sheet, slightly separated, and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, until firm. Biscotti will continue to firm as they cool.
Remove from oven and transfer biscotti to a wire rack until completely cool.

To prepare icing:
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar, apple juice concentrate, and cinnamon until smooth and spreadable. Add more confectioners’ sugar if the icing is too runny or more juice concentrate if the glaze is too thick.
Use an offset spatula or butter knife to spread the icing on one biscotti at a time and immediately add sprinkles.
Place on a sheet of wax paper to allow the icing to firm for about 2 hours.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature, with wax paper between layers, for at least two weeks.

Notes:
This recipe uses defrosted frozen apple juice concentrate. Homemade concentrate can be created by cooking down apple juice or cider until it is reduced in half. For this recipe 1 ¼ cups of juice would be reduced to ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of concentrate.
This dough can be sticky. To make handling and shaping easier, moisten your hands and rubber spatula when forming the dough log so that the surface is smooth and the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers.
Keep in mind that all biscotti continue to firm up after removing them from the oven. Don’t overcook the biscotti because they aren’t completely crisp in the allotted time.
Cinnamon sugar is a quick and easy substitute of icing. Sprinkle the dough logs with cinnamon sugar before baking.

Packing tips:
Wrap 3-4 biscotti, cut edges together, in plastic wrap. Stack wrapped bundles in a freezer weight zip-lock bag or plastic storage container.

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