The Monday Box has finally jumped in with both feet! When I started this care package recipe blog almost 2 years ago, my idea of care packages mostly included sending home- baked love to my own stress ridden, sleep deprived college student. Then I learned about the world of military care packages. Talk about stress ridden and sleep deprived! My blogging friend, Gina, woke me up and my military mom friend, Suzie, filled me in. I am still learning the details, but I try, in addition to recipes for short distance mailing, to include recipes that “should” successfully travel the long distances and time spans required to get to deployed military. Previously, my estimates of how long an item would stay fresh were based on home testing only. I now have a “volunteer taste tester” in Afghanistan.
A woman who works with my husband has two nephews who are being deployed. One is currently in Afghanistan. I am filled with awe at the sacrifices these young men and their families are making. My “mom heart” is with their mom. I asked permission to send “Thank You!” care packages, and to blog about the care package contents, in the hopes of helping anyone looking for military care package tips. It is an honor to be able to thank them for their service.
Here is my plan. About once a month I will post about a military care package. The format for those posts will have three parts. Part one will be about the “theme” of the package and a link to a previously posted recipe that I baked for that package. Part two will be a link to sugar cookies decorated to go with the theme and photos of my amateur, but well intentioned, efforts to duplicate them. I am a complete beginner cookie decorator, as you will soon see, but if I pick easy to do ideas, they should be something anyone could do. Part three will be a recipe new to the Monday Box for something delicious everyone can munch on. I know what Robert Burns wrote about “best laid plans….”, but I will do my best. I am very excited about this new series and I think the posts will offer something for everyone.
Part 1 Contents: Sometimes it is easy to figure out what random or requested things to include in a care package. Other times, having a theme can help. My March Military Care Package had a St. Patrick’s Day holiday theme. The contents were green (on purpose, not moldy!) or leprechaun-ish; Lucky Charms, gold foil chocolate coins, shamrock decorations and green balloons, puzzle books, and candy/gum in green wrappers. An un-cut pan of Leprechaun’s Rainbow Chip Blondies (with two plastic knives included) fit the theme well.
Part 2 Circle Sugar Cookies: Decorated sugar cookies stay fresh a really long time and a simple circle shape should travel well. I used the same vanilla and chocolate sugar cookie recipes (from Lilaloa) and faux royal icing (from Bakingdom) that I used for my Birthday Cake Cookies. As I searched through dozens of creative St. Patrick’s ideas on Pinterest, this seemingly simple cookie from Lilaloa looked just right. I need to remember that astoundingly talented people can make anything look easy. My shamrocks (yes, those green perhaps-botanical designs are shamrocks) bear only a slight resemblance to those on Lilaloa, but I had fun making them. Next time I will try for something even simpler. (My daughter says I say that all the time and I never follow through. Maybe if I write it down….)
The only thing I added to the Lilaloa directions was a "cheat circle" to help me outline the icing area. After cutting out each cookie, I gently pressed a circle cutter just enough to leave an outline. Once the cookies were baked, I had an line to follow when I outlined the area to be frosted.
Part 3 New Recipe: I have a confession to make. I ran out of time while I was packing this care package and these delectable Snickers Biscotti didn’t make it into the box. Hopefully, I will do better with advanced preparation next month. Instead, the Snickers Biscotti were either immediately consumed or were savored by my domestic care package recipient.
These are definitely Americanized biscotti. No simple, dry dipping biscuit here. Snickers Biscotti are crunchy, deeply chocolate cookies, packed with chocolate chips, peanuts, and caramel bits. Then they are iced with caramel, drizzled with chocolate, and sprinkled with more peanuts. Snickers Biscotti are a decadent cookie, incredibly munchable on their own or, for the biscotti traditionalist, dip-able. I recommend a tall glass of milk.
Snickers Biscotti
Ingredients
Biscotti
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped or broken into small pieces
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup caramel bits or caramel cubes chopped in 4-6 pieces each
- ½ cup chopped peanuts salted or unsalted according to taste
Icing and drizzle
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 cup caramel cubes unwrapped
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate broken into small chunks
- ½ cup chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and chopped chocolate. Pulse until the chocolate is ground into the flour mixture. (Running the processor continually rather than pulsing will create too much heat and will melt the chocolate instead of finely grinding it.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- Gradually add the flour mixture just until combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, caramel bits, and peanuts.
- Divide the dough in half and form two logs about 14” x 2”. Place on baking sheet at least 4” apart. The logs will spread.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. Logs should be firm but not hard.
- Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Leave the oven on.
- On a cutting board using a serrated knife, cut each loaf into ¾ -1 inch slices. (If the slices are crumbling, let the loaf cool a little longer.)
- Stand the slices, ½ inch apart, on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes until the surface of the cookies is dry ( though, the chocolate chips and caramel bits will be gooey).
- Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
- FOR ICING: Carefully melt the caramel cubes in a microwave safe bowl at medium power. Heat for 30 seconds, remove and stir. Continue to heat for 10 seconds then stir, until the caramel is completely melted. Be careful. Melted caramel is extremely hot.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the confectioners sugar, melted caramel, and milk until smooth and spreadable. If the icing is too thick, add tiny amounts of additional milk until the desired consistency is achieved.
- Use a butter knife or off-set spatula to spread the icing over the tops of the biscotti.
- Place the chocolate chunks in a zip lock bag and microwave at medium heat for about 30 seconds until completely melted.
- Cut a tiny piece of one bottom corner from the bag, then pipe zigzags over the caramel frosted biscotti.
- Immediately sprinkle with chopped peanuts.
- Allow to set firmly (at least 2 hours) before wrapping or storing. Stored at room temperature in an airtight container, Snickers Biscotti stay fresh for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Love peanut cookies? Check out this collection of 20 Irresistible Peanut Cookies to bake right now!
enchantedhomeschoolingmom
This looks like a really good recipe. Sweet and tasty combination 🙂
themondaybox
Thanks, Jill! Biscotti are a delicious treat for care packages or for munching at home. These snickers biscotti are especially good! 🙂
Becca Niederkrom
Now this is a biscotti that I would thoroughly enjoy. I am totally drooling over your pictures, yum!!
themondaybox
Thanks, Becca! It would be such fun to see you doing one of your chocolate tasting videos while munching on a snickers biscotti! 🙂 Probably too many crumbs.
Reviews 411
OMG!!!! *drools* This looks sooooooo yummy! Thanks for sharing! I am definitely trying this recipe! hehe 🙂
themondaybox
Thanks! These really do taste as good as they look! I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
Maureen
Wow! I am impressed. These look amazing. Must pin to try later!
themondaybox
Thanks, Maureen! These biscotti are so good even people who usually don't go for biscotti are smitten! 🙂 Thanks for the pin!
Winnie
wowww
I love biscotti and have been making several different recipes.
But Snickers Biscotti are definitely unique
I'm pinning, I need to try them after Passover 🙂
themondaybox
Thanks, Winnie! I love biscotti too. 🙂 There are so many flavor possibilities, they are perfect with a cup of coffee, and they stay delicious for weeks! I have a Passover chocolate chip mandel bread recipe that is very much like a biscotti and is my family's favorite cookie.חג פסח שמח
Jocelyn@Brucrewlife
Wendy, I love that you are doing this! It is so incredibly sweet and heart warming!! And can I just say how gorgeous those shamrock cookies turned out? You are gifted!! 🙂 Love everything about this post, girl!
themondaybox
Thanks, Jocelyn! It feels good to be able to provide a smile while saying "Thanks!" to our military. I am so glad that this new series has been well received! You are very sweet to boost my cookie decorating self-esteem! I am not gifted but I am enthusiastic and well intentioned! 🙂
crazyforcrust
This is such an amazing post!! I need to do another care package. It was so much fun to do!
themondaybox
Thanks, Dorothy! I used your care package post (for Java Cupcake) for inspiration while I was planning this one! I found that once I got ideas and gathered everything together, I wished the large flat rate box was bigger! 🙂
Chris @ Shared Appetite
What an incredibly and selfless act of love and kindness! Such heartwarming to read! And this snickers biscotti look amazing! So creative!
themondaybox
Thank you, Chris! I really am thankful for the men and women in our armed forces. They put themselves in harms way in service to our country. It seems like such a little thing to reach out and say, "You are appreciated!" with the cookies and other goodies I refer to as "baked love". 🙂 These biscotti are amazing with the icing and drizzle but are even good on their own! 🙂
p.s. I am so glad you found The Monday Box because now I found Shared Appetite! You have so many delicious looking recipes, I almost don't know where to start!
shannon
i got so excited about all the things that i forgot to mention how awesome the snickers biscotti idea is! we must be thinking with the same brain, because i have an idea for a "snickers" themed something - i have zero idea if it will work out, but i'm trying it anyway. those would be both welcome and dangerous in my house.
themondaybox
Oooo, a mysterious, mouth watering upcoming snickers themed something! Must be snickers in the St. Louis air. 🙂 Now, you have me clicking over to Periodic Table several times a day to see if you posted it yet! 🙂 I had zero idea if these biscotti would work when I came up with the idea. When I searched and didn't find another similar recipe, I had my doubts. But apparently, every now and then I can come up with original ideas that work! These are the most cookie-like biscotti I have made and they are sweet, crunchy-chewy, delicious. A win!
shannon
i'm so excited to hear about your new series! i can't wait to see how it goes. i love this care package: so cute! and so much fun to receive, i'm sure.
can we talk about how adorable those cookies are that you decorated? those shamrocks not only look totally like shamrocks, but they're gorgeous: so professional looking. you're really great at royal icing decoration; way better than i will ever be, that's for sure. 🙂 I'll need some lessons at some point.
themondaybox
Thank you, Shannon, for your always bubbling enthusiasm. Your comments always make me feel like I have a personal cheerleading squad. 🙂 I am very excited to have the opportunity to send Derik some care packages and to be able to share my ideas here. I hope the series will be interesting and useful and that I can make the posts diverse enough to offer something for everyone. So far the feedback is good. Most importantly, the feedback from Derik and his family is good. 🙂
Monica
Wendy, what a wonderful thing you are doing! This is an awesome series. Those snickers biscotti look incredible...I can't take my eyes off that drizzle. And I love that you are not going simple but dressing up your packages so much. I wouldn't think you could ship things with a lot of icing, etc. I really think and hope your packages put a smile on brave Derik's face.
Your cookies really came out beautifully - awesome job all-round!
themondaybox
Thanks for your encouragement and support, Monica! Being able to send Derik some care packages is such an honor. I get to say thank you and Derik gets to eat cookies! Also, I get experience with military care packages. How can I give tips to others about something I have never done myself?! If Derik has half the fun receiving his box as I do putting it together...then all is good. 🙂 Shipping chocolate or creamy icing to the desert after April doesn't work. The faux royal icing on the cookies should be ok...that remains to be seen. But during the hot months everything melts. Summer time biscottis will have to go naked. 🙂 In the meantime, I can indulge my drizzling tendencies.
Ashley
I love this new series Wendy and thank you for doing it! First, I think your shamrock cookies came out great! I always have ambitious plans for decorating with royal icing and always seem to forget that I still have much to learn / practice! haha And these biscotti sound amazing - I mean snickers biscotti?? Yes!
themondaybox
Thanks, Ashley! I am so glad you like the series because I really am excited about it. I would love for my cookie decorating skills to improve (wishful thinking?) but I also hope to find/share decorating ideas that anyone could do. I am notorious for under-estimating the time needed for a project....or at least the time I need to do a project! These Snickers Biscotti will definitely make it into a future care package because they do taste amazing! 🙂
New sweets on the blog
Wow! Snickers biscotti look soooooo yummy!! but your tutorial is very good too!!
themondaybox
Thanks, Ada! The Snickers biscotti are the kind of sweet treat that kids would enjoy as well as adults!
As for the cookie decorating....I am in need of a decorating tutor! I wish you lived closer...or at least on the same continent! 🙂 I will keep practicing with the hopes that I will eventually improve. I would love to be capable of making your nutcracker cookies next December and I just bought an ice cream cone cookie cutter to attempt your clown cookies. 🙂
New sweets on the blog
<3
gottagetbaked
You're doing an incredible thing by sending care packages to brave men and women in the military. I'm sure it would make their day to know that someone appreciates what they're doing (and getting to eat your delicious treats!). Whoever gets these gorgeous Snickers biscotti in the future is gonna be one happy guy or gal!
themondaybox
Thanks, Nancy! I am so excited to have this opportunity to show my thanks and demonstrate the "care package worthiness" of Monday Box recipes! My hope is that the care packages can bring a smile and a sense of being appreciated.
The Snickers Biscotti have made everyone who has tried one happy so far. 🙂
Tracy Ilgenfritz
Thank you for what you are doing. My son is Derik who is deployed in Afghanistan who is your taste tester. Also it's Cassie nephew. I know Derik will appreciate anything that is a taste from home. Thanks again for supporting our troops and not forgetting they are still there fighting.
Tracy
themondaybox
Tracy, it truly is an honor to be able to thank YOU and Derik for the sacrifices you are making, as a family, for our country. My hope is that when Derik gets his Monday Box care packages he will know that he is supported and thought of, not only by his family, but by strangers who are the fellow Americans
whose way of life he is fighting for. I also hope the packages bring him a little piece of home and a smile. I packed as many smiles as I could fit in the box. 🙂
Tracy
Just wanted to let you know that Derik received your package on Monday or Tuesday, he sent me a quick message to tell me that. He was so shocked with all the stuff in there and he said he loved the cookies and he even hung up the decoration stuff in his room he also said that he appreciated all the work and thought you put into this care package. I will get to talk to him again probably later in the week to find out more. Thank's again and I will let you know what else I can find out from him.
themondaybox
Thanks for the update, Tracy! How wonderful that the box only took 7-8 days to get to Derik! I have heard tales of packages taking 3 weeks or more, so one week in great. It sounds like the care package made him smile. Mission accomplished. 🙂