LIFE

Lighten up biscotti for a holiday treat

By Darlene Zimmerman, Henry Ford Health System

During the holidays, butter-rich, calorie- and fat-laden cookies are everywhere. This cookie season, we set our sights on creating a healthier biscotti. My Italian husband was the perfect taste tester, and a recipe on the Taste of Home website featured an interesting ingredient as a shortcut — chocolate brownie mix.

My holiday spin on this recipe was adding pieces of crushed candy cane and chocolate chips to the dough, and then drizzling each biscotti with melted white chocolate, creating a peppermint bark taste.

Biscotti is named for its baking method. In Italian, "bis" means twice and "cotto" means baked.

These hard, crunchy cookies are baked in slightly flattened, log-like loaves, then sliced thinly and baked again, allowing them to develop their signature crispness. The resulting cookie is perfect for dunking in coffee, hot chocolate, or even a dessert wine.

By using a brownie mix, we shortened the list of ingredients found in many biscotti recipes. And, we kept artery-clogging saturated fat and calories in check by adding just a couple of tablespoons of oil. Traditional biscotti recipes often call for an entire stick of butter.

My holiday spin on this recipe was adding pieces of crushed candy cane and chocolate chips to the dough, and then drizzling each biscotti with melted white chocolate, creating a peppermint bark taste.

Darlene Zimmerman is a registered dietitian in Henry Ford Hospital's Heart & Vascular Institute. For questions about today's recipe, call 313-972-1920.

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Biscotti

Makes: 24 (2 per serving) / Preparation time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

1 box (18.2-ounce) trans fat-free chocolate fudge brownie mix

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup crushed candy cane pieces (4 candy canes)

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons water

1 egg

2 egg whites

1/3 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine brownie mix, flour, baking powder, semisweet chocolate chips, and crushed candy cane pieces. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, water, egg, and egg whites.

Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Divide batter into four equal parts. Generously spray a large jelly roll pan with cooking spray as well as hands. Using greased hands, shape each portion of dough into a about 10-by-21/2-inch rectangle. Bake for 22 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Carefully transfer each log to a cutting board.

Using a serrated knife at a 45-degree angle, cut each log into 12 slices (each about a 1/2-inch thick). Return biscotti, cut-side down, to baking sheet and bake an additional 6 to 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, place biscotti close together and drizzle with melted white chocolate. Let stand until white chocolate hardens.

Created by Darlene Zimmerman, MS, RD, for Heart Smart and tested by Susan M. Selasky for the Free Press Test Kitchen.

167 calories (22% from fat), 4 grams fat (2 grams sat. fat, 0 grams trans fat), 30 grams carbohydrates, 8 grams protein, 106 mg sodium, 8 mg cholesterol, 21 mg calcium, 1 grams fiber. Food exchanges: 2 starch, 1/2 fat.