Double Vanilla And Dulce De Leche Biscotti
Why I Love This Recipe
'Rife with vanilla, these crisp, classic, biscotti also feature a caramel layer of dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is available in fine food stores, Latin markets, or at Clabber Girl.com who offers an additive-free dulce de leche. You can also simmer a can of condensed milk, using a double boiler, over low heat, for several hours until the milk turns a deep caramel color.
'Dulce de leche is the 'tiramisu' of the millennium and delicious when combined with vanilla. These biscotti would also be delightful without the dulce and simply accented with vanilla.'
Ingredients You'll Need
1 (14-ounce) can prepared or homemade dulce de leche
1 cup unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
scrapings of two vanilla beans
1/2 cup ground pecans
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with two sheets each of parchment paper.
In a large mixer bowl, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar. Add in eggs, vanilla and vanilla bean scrapings, and blend well. Fold in pecans, flour, salt and baking powder to make a very thick batter, adding in more flour as required to achieve this. Let batter stand a few minutes to firm up.
Pat or spoon out two portions of batter onto each baking sheet (about a quarter of the batter each).
Spread half of the dulce de leche on each of the two mounds of batter. Pat on remaining batter over each section, using wet hands to facilitate this. Some dulce de leche may leak out - that is fine - it will bake up as it should.
Bake until set, about 45-55 minutes. Remove from oven, reduce temperature to 325 degrees F and allow biscotti to cool 15 minutes. Cut into diagonal slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Bake again to dry out biscotti a bit more - about 10-20 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your cookies.
