Our senses can provide powerful memory triggers of people and events in our lives. The smell of cedar brings my paternal grandmother to mind. She had a large cedar chest where she kept her treasures packed away in tissue paper. As a little girl, I would listen fascinated by my grandmother’s stories about each cedar scented item. The taste of Earl Grey tea brings me thoughts of my father, who always said that you can’t smell Earl Grey tea without smiling. Oreos are another memory trigger for me. I can’t see an Oreo without thinking about my maternal grandfather.
My grandfather was a picky eater. Usually, being a picky eater means you will only eat certain things. My grandfather would only eat certain things, made by certain brands. That’s what he said, anyway. My grandmother didn’t buy into his brand pickiness.
There used to be two name brand chocolate sandwich cookies; Oreos by Nabisco and Hydrox by Sunshine. My grandfather said he only ate Oreos. He said he couldn’t stand Hydrox and would refuse to eat them if offered. However, Hydrox were less expensive and my grandmother didn’t like to waste money. She always bought Hydrox cookies and served them to my grandfather in an Oreo box. He ate them without comment or complaint.
I have often wondered whether my grandfather really didn’t know he was eating Hydrox cookies. I mean, Oreos and Hydrox both had their names clearly embossed on each cookie. Did my grandfather, generally an intelligent and observant individual, just not notice? Did he eat without his glasses on and couldn’t read the embossed cookies? Or, was he just playing along with my grandmother’s subterfuge? I will never know the answer but will always associate Oreos with my Grandpa Nat.
There can be no subterfuge with these Oreo biscotti because Hydrox went out of production in 1999. The recipe most commonly found for Oreo biscotti originated with Kraft. (Kraft owns Nabisco. Nabisco makes Oreos.) I tried the Kraft recipe and it produced a cookie that was way too hard for my taste. I wanted crunch without risk to my teeth. I adapted a King Arthur vanilla biscotti recipe to include the crushed Oreos and found the crunchy but bitable texture I was looking for.
Decorating these biscotti is optional. If you are mailing them to or from somewhere hot, I suggest you skip it. The white chocolate drizzle is for looks and would melt in hot temperatures. I think these biscotti are pretty and delicious without embellishment.
Oreo Biscotti
Ingredients
Biscotti
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 18 chocolate sandwich cookies coarsely chopped
Decorating
- 4 ounces white chocolate broken into chunks
- ½ tablespoon vegetable shortening
- 3 chocolate sandwich cookies cookie part only, then finely crushed
- 3 tablespoons white decorating sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and baking powder until smooth.
- Add eggs, and beat to combine.
- On low speed, slowly add flour and mix until smooth.
- Stir in chopped Oreos.
- Divide the dough in half. Scoop onto the baking sheet and shape into 2 logs about 9” x 2”.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove biscotti from oven and reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
- Cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes. (If biscotti crumble while cutting wait until the dough cools a little longer.) Slice the logs into ½” – ¾” slices.
- Stand the slices on edge on the baking sheet.
- Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until golden. Cook longer for crunchier biscotti and less time for softer biscotti.
- Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks.
- If decorating: Put the biscotti on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet, close together on edge.
- Place white chocolate and shortening in a small bowl and microwave in 10-20 second intervals until just melted. Stir in between intervals. White chocolate burns easily, so watch the chocolate carefully to not over cook.
- Pour melted chocolate into a zip lock bag and seal. Cut a tiny bit off one corner.
- Drizzle the melted chocolate back and forth over biscotti rows.
- Immediately sprinkle tops with decorating sugar and/or finely crushed Oreo cookies.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature. These biscotti remain delicious for at least 4 weeks.
Pemutih Alami
Hey! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone!
Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts!
Keep up the great work!
themondaybox
Thanks for stopping by, Pemutih! The best part of blogging is the reader and blogger community! I appreciate your reading and your encouragement! 🙂
Helen
Found your website by accident and I’m so glad I did. Tried this recipe today and I’m still dumbfounded that how good it turned out. My husband ate 3 pieces while waiting for them to be cool before I cut them. Nice and crunchy and oh so good!! I only baked one log again since he likes the way it is, his teeth thanks him too. Thank you thank you. I want to try the moon cookies next
themondaybox
I am so glad you found the Monday Box and enjoyed the biscotti! Thank you for letting me know!! A great part about biscotti is that you can adjust the crunch factor by baking more or less. 🙂 Let me know how the Moon Cookie go. They are soft and chewy, so your husband should enjoy them. 🙂
Carol | a cup of mascarpone
I adore biscotti…and this is brilliant! Biscotti is my #1 favorite baked gift to give friends! This will be a must try on my list!
themondaybox
Thanks, Carol! I adore biscotti too and agree completely that they make the best baked gift! Let me know how they work for you. 🙂
BruCrew Life
What a fun idea to combine Oreos and biscotti! I loved the fun back story of how Oreos make you think of your Grandpa…funny and cute story btw!
themondaybox
Thanks, Jocelyn! I was very lucky to have all 4 of my grandparents very much a part of my life into adulthood, so I accumulated a lot of stories! 🙂
shannon
i have a friend who loves oreos who would FLIP over these. I also have myself, who loves oreos, who is currently flipping over these. I want to make them, but there’s going to have to be a plan in place for the leftovers in the bag, because i will eat all of them waiting for the biscotti to be done.
themondaybox
Thanks, Shannon. 🙂 I hope you do get to bake these. I had a very hard time keeping any of them long enough to test their shelf life. Hiding some didn’t work because, though the rest of the family was clueless, I still knew where they were for munching!
Jocelyn (@grandbabycake)
I seriously think you are such a genius! Oreos and biscotti, stop me before I faint from glee!
themondaybox
Oh dear, Jocelyn! Don’t faint! Bake and be gleeful instead. 🙂
beyondfrosting
WOW! I love this idea!
themondaybox
Thanks, Julianne. They are a tasty biscotti. 🙂
Ashley
Oh my gosh this is an amazing idea! I love biscotti and I love Oreos … I need to make these!! My grandma loves biscotti so I like trying new flavors to mail to her. I think she’d love these too!
themondaybox
I am glad you like them, Ashley, and I hope your grandma does too! 🙂 The texture is just right on these, I think. Crunchy but dunking is optional. 🙂