PB and J Biscotti

What kid (big and small) would not love these PB and J Biscotti?  If you enjoy peanut butter and jelly in a sandwich, wait until you try this delectable cookie.  And…… they have the advantage of not squishing into a sandwich mish mash ball in transit.  With peanuts, peanut butter and Peanut butter meal the roasted peanut flavor is for real.  Pared with tart dried cherries, they will bring back fond childhood lunch time memories,

This dough is quite sticky, so it if best to chill a bit to make it easier to hand, and the roll the dough flat between two pieces of waxed paper, or one large folded sheet.

If you would rather, you can substitute other dried fruit or strawberry or grape fruit leather for the dried cherries, and get much the same result.

Why not whip up a batch and surprise you (adult) friends at you next picnic lunch.

PB AND J BISCOTTI Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup dry roasted peanuts chopped
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed        
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract           
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter powder
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda              
• ¼ teaspoon salt               
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup dried cherries

Directions:

1. Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray, set aside.
3. In a bowl beat peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and one egg at a time and continue mixing, and until smooth.  An electric mixer works well for this.
4. In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and peanut butter powder whisk until well combined.
5. Add wet mix to dry mix and blend by hand until just combined.  Add chopped peanuts and mix until well distributed.  Dough will be quite sticky.
6. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
7. Remove from refrigerator and divide the dough in half, place on a piece of waxed paper, fold waxed paper over top and roll dough into a rectangle about a ½ inch thick.
8. Place half of the peanut butter chips and dried cherries on one side of each piece of dough.  Fold the other half of the dough over the filled side, press ends together and shape into a log
9. Place logs on prepared cookie sheet, spacing 2" - 3" apart, flatten a bit and shape in to a half cylinder about 3" in wide.
10. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until firm and starting to crack on top.  Reduce oven to 275 degrees F.
11. Cool in pan, until cool enough to handle. Transfer to cutting board and cut each log diagonally into ½ to ¾ inch thick slices using a sharp serrated knife.
12. Place biscotti bottom down on baking sheets and return to oven for 25-30 minutes, or until nice a brown crisp.
13. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks.
14. Cool completely and store in air tight container to keep fresh. 

Take me from PB and J Biscotti to:

• Decadent Biscotti Recipe Collection
• Holiday Biscotti Recipe Collection
• Tips for Making Biscotti