Frugal Food Thursday: Jelly Bean Biscotti

Welcome to Frugal Food Thursday!  If you have a great frugal recipe, please link up below! 

Last Sunday, I was able to get free jelly beans at CVS. (They cost 99¢, but I received 99¢ in Extra Care Bucks for buying them.) I love getting free stuff at CVS!

After the high of getting something for free wore off, I had the problem of what to do with the jelly beans. We still have Halloween candy in the house, so the thought of just leaving them for the kids to eat didn't seem right.

Meanwhile, I started thinking about what I'd be putting in the school lunches this week. I usually make some sort of homemade cookies or other treat, like my Chocolate Chip Blondies or Snickerdoodles.  But I wanted to try something new.

So I thought maybe I could solve both problems at once.  A little Googling later and - voila - Jelly Bean Biscotti!

I based my recipe on one I found at Food.com.  I used fewer jelly beans (since I had only the one package), and didn't add powdered sugar to the final recipe - it certainly seemed sweet enough!

You could make this for any holiday: red and green jelly beans for Christmas; red for Valentine's Day; orange and black for Halloween.  I'd use brightly colored jelly beans - the yellow and pink ones seemed to lose their color after being baked.  But the kids thought they were very yummy, and I was happy to get the free jelly beans out of the house!

JELLY BEAN BISCOTTI

4 tbsp butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 9-ounce package jelly beans
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly.  Add vanilla and stir.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients the butter-sugar mix a little at a time until all the dry ingredients are moistened and a soft dough is formed.  Stir in the jelly beans.

Flour a flat surface, like a cutting board.  Using a spatula, remove the dough from the bowl and place on the floured surface.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour.  Cut the dough in half.  Roll each half into the shape of a baguette.  Place the two dough rolls on a greased cookie sheet, and flatten the rolls with your palm to make two loaves.

Using a pastry brush, coat the surface of the rolls with the beaten egg.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, or until the outside of the loaves is golden brown.

Allow the loaves to cool on the cookie sheet for about 15 minutes.  Then remove them and place on a flat surface.  Slice each loaf diagonally into eight slices.  Put them back on the cookie sheet, cut side up, and bake at 375 degrees for another 10 minutes, or until the edges of the slices are turning brown.

Transfer slices to a wire rack to cool.  Makes 16 biscotti.

There are lots more cheap recipes posted here at Frugal Follies.  Click here for the list!

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