Gingerbread Biscotti with White Chocolate and Peppermint

I'm exhausted. The holidays have officially kicked my ass. I'm so glad that we are officially a year away from the next holiday season. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but being married to an only child in an Italian family is very difficult, especially during the holidays when everyone needs to spend time with the boy wonder. Yes, it's all very sweet, and I truly enjoy the company of most of his family, but they are exhausting, and the fact that everyone has to have a party or a get together of their own, and none of them can just plan one big party is so annoying. My whole family gets together on Christmas morning, there's no driving from house to house, we all go to one house, wham bam thank you ma'am, and the whole family is done in one stop. Not so much with his family, we need to go over the river and through the woods, over here, over there, etc, etc.

I had just about lost my mind with exhaustion by Christmas Eve night, which didn't bode well with going to Midnight Mass with his mother, who I'm convinced doesn't really like me. She gave me the hairy eyeball every time I cracked up, which of course happened every three minutes, which in turn cracked CB up. She looked at me as if to say, do I need to put you in the car? Then looked at CB as if in pity that he needed to spend the rest of his life with a woman who would find humor in the house of God, who would find a reason to chuckle at a mass celebrating the birth of Christ. At this point I should probably explain that this is a woman who walked out of the movie Happy Feet because she thought it was too violent. Yes, animated G rated movies rub this woman the wrong way. She is in serious need of a chill pill the size of my foot.

So this post has absolutely nothing to do with Gingerbread, or biscotti it's simply a rant disguised as a recipe post. Enjoy.

1/4 C butter
3/4 C packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 C molasses
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 C finely minced candied ginger (optional)
White chocolate coating (optional) for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl beat together butter and sugar until there are no lumps of sugar. Beat in the eggs, then blend in the molasses. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. Fold in the almonds (and candied ginger if using).

Divide the dough in half onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Spray your hands generously with nonstick spray (dough will be sticky) and form each half into a log about three or four inches wide and one inch high. Place them two inches apart. Bake dough for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Cool logs for 10 minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut each log into one-half-inch slices. Place the slices cut-side down on baking sheet and return to oven to toast. Remove after 10 minutes and flip all of the cookies over. Toast an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Optional white chocolate coating: Melt coating or white chocolate chips according to package directions. Dip cookies halfway into coating, or use a spoon to drizzle quickly back and forth. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint before the chocolate has set. Let set completely before storing.

Makes 2 th 2 1/2 dozen