Avôs Biscoitos Portuguese Biscotticookies Recipes

AVô'S BISCOITOS (PORTUGUESE BISCOTTI/COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream together butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.
• Do not undercream or overcream. (Undercreamed butter/sugar looks yellow and dense. Overcreamed butter/sugar looks white and greasy.).
• Add eggs, mixing until blended.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.
• Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, stirring until combined.
• If dough seems dry or flakey, knead slightly.
• Scoop up ping-pong ball sized dollops of dough.
• Roll between your hands to form a 5-inch long "snake", even throughout the length.
• (if dough is too sticky to handle at this point, you will need to add a small amount of flour to the dough to make it workable).
• Brings ends of the "snake" together, slightly folding one end over the other, to form a donut-shape with a small hole in the middle.
• Place cookies 1-2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
• Bake 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Let rest on baking sheet 2 minutes before transferring to rack to cool.
• Enjoy!

PORTUGUESE BISCOITOS RECIPE ( BISCUIT COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
• Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix together using a whisk or spoon.
• Cream the butter and the sugar either with a mixing machine or hand mixer until the butter mixture is smooth and light.
• Add to the butter mixture, the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice, and water or milk and mix until well combined.
• Add the flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together. If the dough is dry, and a bit more water or milk.
• Place the cookie dough onto a lightly floured working surface.
• Use an ice cream scoop and scoop pieces of cookie dough about the size of large gum balls.
• Shape the biscoitos by rolling out each piece into a long strip about 4-5 inches in length and 1/2 inch thick, and connect both ends together resembling a ring.
• Place biscuits onto baking pan and keep them about 1/2 inch apart.
• Repeat until all the biscuit cookie dough is used up.
• Baking one tray at a time, place the cookie tray into the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Once baked, take out from the oven and let the biscuits cool down for a few minutes before transferring them to a plate or wire rack.
• Repeat with the second tray.
• Keep biscuits stored in an airtight container, they will keep well for about 2-3 weeks.

INES' PORTUGUESE BISCOITOS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and mix well. Add 3 of the eggs and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the butter slowly and blend until the mixture forms into a smooth dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Lightly grease 2 large cookie sheets. Working with 2 tablespoon portions of dough at a time, roll the dough with your hands against the counter to form snake-like lengths about 5 inches long and 3/4-inch thick. Bring the edges together and press to seal so that you have a small donut shape. Place the dough circles onto the prepared cookie sheets spaced about 1-inch apart. Mix remaining egg with remaining tablespoon of sugar to form a glaze. Brush the top of each cookie with some of the glaze. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown on top. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Serve with tea or coffee.

BISCOCHITOS TRADITIONAL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Mix in the anise seed, and beat until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Add the sifted ingredients and brandy, and stir until well blended.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 or 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. The traditional is fleur-de-lis. Place cookies onto baking sheets. Mix together the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the tops of the cookies.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.

ITALIAN TRI-COLOR COOKIES (RAINBOW COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease 3 8"x8" metal baking pans. After greasing, line the bottoms of the pans with wax paper, smoothing the paper down onto the pan. Grease the tops of the wax paper and then flour the pans. Put aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, Beat together on medium-high speed the Almond Paste, Sugar, Almond Extract and butter until well blended. (there might be some small lumps of Almond Paste remaining and that's fine.).
• Reduce speed to medium and beat in the eggs one at a time until blended.
• Reduce speed to low and then add the flour and salt slowly to the mixture until combined.
• Take two small bowls and add 1 rounded cup of batter into each bowl. (there should be another rounded cup of batter still in the original mixing bowl.).
• Add 15 drops of red food color to one bowl and 15 drops of green food color to the other. Stir each bowl until evenly blended with color.
• Spoon the untinted batter into one pan. With metal spatula spread batter evenly (layer will be about 1/4 inch thick). Repear with red batter in second pan and green batter in remaining pan.
• Bake until set and toothpick inserted in center of layers comes out clean. 10-12 minutes.
• Cool in pans on wire rack about 1/2 hour. Cake should be cool to the touch.
• Run tip of knife around side of pans to loosen layers.
• Lay a piece of wax paper on a flat surface that will be able to fit in refrigerator.
• Take the green layer and flip over pan onto wax paper. Gently pull off the wax paper. Spread 1/3 cup of apricot preserves onto the green layer.
• Take the untinted layer and remove from pan. Place it onto the green layer with the wax paper side up. Press down gently and then remove the wax paper.
• Spread remaining 1/3 cup of Apricot preserves onto the untinted layer.
• take the remaining red layer and remove from pan and place upon the white layer again with the wax paper side up. Press down gently and remove the wax paper.
• In a 1 quart saucepan, heat chocolate and butter flavored crisco over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted.
• Spread melted chocolate mixture on top of the red layer evenly. Do not put mixture on sides.
• refrigerate until chocolate is firm, at least 1 hour. (at this point, if you want, you can cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before serving).
• To serve, with a large sharp knife, trim about 1/4 inch from the edges. Cut the stacked layers into 6 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces. You will get 36 square cookies from this.
• Place the cookies in a single layer in a waxed paper lined container. They can be refrigerated for up to one week or freeze up to 3 months. These cookies must be kept in the fridge.

EASY PORTUGUESE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, stir together the cornstarch and white sugar. Add the butter and cream well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the sugar mixture until a dough forms. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto an unprepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden brown at the edges. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.