Chocolate, Ginger, & Pistachio Biscotti

A recipe originally found in April's edition of Delicious magazine, but amended to include one of my favorite pairings of all time: ginger. I mean, really, when does chocolate, ginger, and nuts go wrong? I submit, never.
Anyway, these came out for me much more like crispy cookies than actual biscotti, but nonetheless delicious. They also seemed to make, rather than the advertised 25, about 10. Tops. I'm not sure how small they wanted me to divide the dough up, but my biscotti seem about average size and only produced less than half of what they claimed. Ah well. Delicious regardless.

Makes about 25 biscotti (LIES! About 10 really)
Time: 20 min. to make, 30 min to bake

Ingredients:

120g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
75g caster sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
25g chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 large egg
1 tbsp olive oil
40g green pistachios
40g diced crystallized ginger
50g bitter chocolate chips (i.e. 70% cocoa solids) or chopped dark chocolate

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub in butter with your fingertips.
In a small bowl, beat the egg with the olive oil and stir into the mixture. Add the pistachios and chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, then knead together until everything is evenly distributed.
Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface. Roll the piece into a log about 3cm wide and 35cm long (or whatever will fit on your baking sheet).
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and firm but not hard.
Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 150 degrees C.
Slice the logs on the diagonal into biscuits, about 5mm thick, using a sharp serrated knife.
Lay out on baking trays and cook for a further 8-10 minutes until crisp.
Set aside to cool.

Can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week.

Banoffee Pie/Banana & Butterscotch Flan

Oh the wonders. Oh the glory. Oh the absolute English overindulgence that is banoffee pie. Is it the bananas? Is it the toffee? Whatever makes this dessert the heaven it is, this is one of the most decadent things the little island has produced as a dessert staple over the years. And while it may take about 5 years off your life, every once in awhile, it's totally worth it.
It seems everyone and their British granny have their own version of this, mine comes from a good friend (appropriately English) who served this as dessert for this year's Easter dinner. Stomach already full of pork and bread deliciousness, I thought I would be able to resist the dessert temptation. Alas, I could not and now I'm glad my eyes were bigger than my stomach. It was worth every stomach-busting bite.
Enjoy!

Ingredients

Biscuit Base

8oz digestive Biscuits

3oz Butter

Filling

6oz Soft Brown Sugar

6oz Butter

13oz condensed milk

3 Bananas

Topping

1/4 pt double cream

Walnut halves/Grated chocolate

Method:

Prepare the biscuit base by melting the butter and adding crushed digestive biscuits. Line a 25cm 9” flan dish.

Place the sugar, butter and condensed milk in a large bowl.

Place the bowl in a microwave and cook on full power for 5 mins.

Stir well and cook for a further 5mins or until golden.

Beat this mixture until it is smooth an uniform.

Caution: the mixture will be very hot!

Slice bananas and arrange on the biscuit base, pour the butterscotch sauce on top.

Allow to cool for 30-60 minutes.

Meanwhile, whip the double cream until just past trails, spoon onto the top of the cooled flan.

Decorate with walnuts or grated chocolate.

Baileys Rocky Road

from Delicious March 2010

This dessert is amazingly simple, no real "baking" required. And it's so delicious and filled with wonderful things that it makes you feel like a kid again. Well, a kid with access to her parent's well-stocked liquor cabinet.

Makes 15 squares
Time: 3 1/2 hours (Takes 20 minutes to make, 10 minutes to cook, 2-3 hours to chill

100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
4 tbsp Baileys liqueur (feel no guilt if you want to add more)
300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I recommend about 70% dark chocolate, but not unsweetened)
50g chopped unsalted pistachios (or ground toasted hazelnuts and almonds, whatever nuts you feel like really)
200g marshmallows (preferably mini ones, but if regular size, chopped)
75g shortbread biscuits, roughly crushed
250g white chocolate, roughly chopped

-Grease a loaf tin or small deep-sided cake tin (we used 23cm x 8cm loaf tin).
Line the base and sides with baking paper, leaving some overhanging the sides.
-Place the Baileys, dark chocolate, and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (making sure that it doesn't touch the water). Allow to melt slowly, then stir gently until smooth.
Remove from heat, cool slightly, then stir in the pistachios (or other nuts), marshmallows, biscuits, and 100g of the white chocolate. Spread the mixture into the loaf tin, then chill for 2-3 hours until firm.
-Melt the remaining 150g white chocolate in a heatproof bowl as before (It's also delicious if you put another tbsp or so of Baileys in with the white chocolate. Drizzle over the rocky road, leave for 3-4 minutes to set (faster if you put it in the fridge for a little bit), then lift out of the tin. Cut into pieces.

It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.