Box-standard biscotti. Recipe: Flat Belly Diet Cookbook, page 296.

Exciting poodle biscotti! The smaller, thinner shape requires less baking time than the traditional oblong. Recipe: Flat Belly Diet Cookbook, page 296.

This Christmas, Urban Girl is baking her way through her hostess-gift list. A recent trip to a local flea market turned into a cookie-cutter shopping spree when she happened upon a stash of retro kitchenalia. She’s decided to make low-fat gingerbread wiener-dogs (recipe: The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking) as well as poodle and Scottie dog biscotti (recipe: Flat Belly Diet Cookbook).

Cookies in wide-mouth mason jars, with a twist of eco-friendly twine. Hostess gifts done.

Top tip: hover around the oven when baking cookie-cutter biscotti—the smaller, thinner shapes burn easily.

After burning two batches of her poodle and Scottie dog biscotti, Urban Girl realized that they needed less than half the baking time called for in the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook recipe. Lesson learned.

Sourcing:

The items photographed in this spread are the personal property of WCE staffers: WCE does not endorse these items and does not endorse these retailers. Sourcing is provided only as a courtesy.

Funky cookie cutters
While Urban Girl purchased her cookie cutters at a local flea market, she noticed equally funky-looking ones on the Etsy social–commerce site.

Lifetime measuring cups
Urban Girl loves her measuring cups. They have pouring spouts on both sides and can be placed directly on the stove top to melt butter or warm oil.

Spice Jar measuring spoons
Urban Girl swears by her slim-line Spice Jar measuring spoons: each fits into the mouth of a standard spice container, metal or glass. The day after she purchased them, she dropped off her box-standard balloon-shaped measuring spoons at her local Salvation Army Thrift Store.

“Gingerbread People (Reduced Fat)” recipe from The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker, 1997. Recipe on pages 828–829.

“Almond Biscotti” recipe from Flat Belly Diet Cookbook, Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass, 2008.
This biscotti recipe has become an Urban Girl favourite: it’s low(ish) calorie and delicious. Recipe on page 296.

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