GrammyKathy....here are two i used to send to Iraq to my son when he was in the Marines. I packed them in popcorn as well and in plastic containers, taped them up real good and they arrived in excellent shape! amy in CNY
ok , first off, the biscotti....a crunchy licorice tasting tidbit....great with hot coffee on a cold evening...
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup Anisette liqueur (booz)
3 eggs
3 3/4 cups flour (i use unbleached)
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
3 teaspoons anise flavoring pinch of salt (extra flour for kneeding)
set oven at 350 degrees F, makes about 3 1/2 doz. cookies
in a bowl, combine sugar, butter, and liqueur and flavoring. Beat at medium speed, or with a fork until mixed well. add the eggs one at a time, beating after each to a smooth consistancy. add flour, baking Powder, and salt. Mix well. the dough will get a little stiff. turn out of the bowl on a floured surface, and kneed for a few times, untill elastic but not hard. divide the dough into 4 pieces. shape each piece into long loaves. place on cookie sheet about 2-3 inches apart (you may need two pans) and bake for about 30-35 minutes. take them out of the oven and slice them with a serrated knife on the diagonal in 1 inch slices, place these slices back on the cookie sheets and bake again for 5-7 minutes, turn them over and bake for 5-7 minutes more. they should be golden brown on both sides. Let them cool.
if you want to dip them in chocolate:
in a sauce pan on the stove on medium heat, (or microwave for 1 1/2 minutes at a time on high) put 1 cup of chocolate chips and 2 teaspoons of shortening until melted together. dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate. you can dip them in chopped almonds or pecans, place on wax paper on a new cookie sheet to cool and set up.
make coffee and gobble them up!!
******************************************************************* Now for the peanut butter balls, decadent little nibbles that will stir up your taste-buds!
mix together: 3 cups confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar) 1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 melted sticks of margarine (not butter or shortening) chill for atleast 3 hours or overnite
remove from fridge and shape into little balls (about the size of a nickel). Place these on a wax paper lined cookie sheet, chill again utill very cold (about 1 hour-i put them in the freezer!).
Chocolate coating:
12 ounces real chocolate chips
4 ounces of Baker's dark chocolate
1 bar of paraffin wax ( you can get this in the hardware store or grocery store by the canning supplies)
over hot boiling water, double boiler preferable, but a metal bowl over a pan of water will do, melt all the above together. DO NOT DO THIS IN THE MICROWAVE. THE WAX WILL BURN. then with a spoon dip the pbb's in the chocolate and let set up on the wax paper lined pans. a pickle fork or shrimp fork works good too to dip them.