Gingerbread Biscotti and Heavenly Clementines

Ok, folks-- I'm going to give this blogging thing a try. For my first post, I am sharing a simple, delicious breakfast that I made one morning this winter. I will admit, this was a time-consuming meal to prepare... the biscotti is a several step process and the clementines take quite some time, but each delectable bite is definitely worth it in the end!

This is the finished product-- Gingerbread Biscotti and Heavenly Clementines!

This is the clementine-making station.

The biscotti dough baking.

Gingerbread Biscotti

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon (packed) freshly grated nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoons egg replacer (I use Ener-G)

6 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, all spices, and baking soda. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg replacer powder and water. Add it to the flour mixture, along with the molasses and vanilla. Mix well to combine. If the mixture is too dry and still crumbly, add a little more water a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough will hold together in a sticky ball.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide in two. Shape each half into two logs about 2 inches wide. Place them on an oiled cookie sheet or silicone baking mat and flatten to about 1 inch high. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch slices on the diagonal. Place the slices cut-side down on the baking sheet and bake for 10 more minutes. Turn them over and bake for 8-10 more minutes. Remove from oven. Biscotti may seem soft at first but they will harden as they cool.

Heavenly Clementines

This recipe is quite simple, actually. The most annoying part is peeling and sectioning the clementines, which you need to do first. After sectioning, lay the pieces out on a paper towel to semi-dry. For the stations, you'll need one bowl of melted vegan chocolate chips, one bowl of crushed almonds, and one bowl of coconut. As you can probably guess, you simply take each clementine section, dip consecutively in the chocolate, almonds, and coconut, and then place on waxed paper. I allowed mine to set in the fridge for about 20 minutes (or until the biscotti was finished).

ENJOY!