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Young & HungryIf you can't take the heat, get outta the kitchen! |
| 16 December |
O Kitchen Aid, Kitchen Aid, wherefore art thou Kitchen Aid – mixer? Shiny and red and steadfast mixer… After three mixer-less batches of biscotti, my arms are now made of steel. And the remainder of me: flour, sugar, egg, and nuts… My days of beating, stirring, kneading, battling by hand are now over. I’m passing the torch to you, reader.
But before I say adieu, here is the last and best of the biscotti recipes. The traditional and original recipe from which all my previous variations were born. I was raised on this anise scented cookie and, as my affection has grown with each passing year, look more and more forward to a batch (or two) each passing birthday or Christmas. Of course now that I finally know how exactly to make them, I have no excuse to not have biscotti around at all times. There’s just something to be said for the ones made by Nonna herself, a special Grandmotherly touch if you will. While I know hers will always be the best to me, I hope that yours will be just as perfect. If not, select all, copy, paste, and send to Grandma!
| 13 December |
While it turns out that Baci is just as much a nickname for chocolate hazelnut as Nutella, I’m sure they’d be happy to know that, in my mind at least, they’re the Kleenex of chocolate hazelnut candy! Baci, which means kiss in Italian, is the much more delicious Nestle version of our Hershey Kisses. Not only is their taste superior to our plain Jane chocolates, but they come with little multilingual love notes inside the wrapper!
I’ll never forget my trip to the chocolate festival in Perugia, the home of the Perugina factory where these little pecks of heaven are crafted. There was chocolate everywhere! Hot chocolate as thick as honey, decadent chocolate desserts, and even a chocolate sculpture contest where artists chipped away at life size blocks of cocoa while people crowded at their feet to catch the scraps*. How they maintained focus I will never know! It was a trip to remember, even 6 years later. And so here’s a little chip of Perugia just for you!
Dillo con un Bacio!
*Scraps?! Excuse my blasphemy.
| 11 December |
Biscotti get a tough wrap for being a tad on the crunchy side, but I’d like to take this opportunity to commit their poor reputation to user error. It’s a dipping cookie people! So whether you prefer coffee, tea, or milk – stop complaining and dunk it! This recipe for Toffee Crunch Biscotti goes particularly well with Starbuck’s new Caramel Brulee Latte or they’re slightly more grown up Toffee Nut Latte. I have never been able to do the black coffee thing and, as such, enjoy experimenting with new coffee creations. The latest and greatest is the simple substitution of about ½ cup of eggnog instead of the usual cream and sugar. For a Thai coffee, swap that eggnog for some sweetened condensed milk. And, if you’re really feeling sweet, heat a tablespoon of cocoa powder or hot chocolate mix with milk or cream for a quick mocha. There are about as many options as there are biscotti, so get dipping!
| 9 December |
Despite the fact that the Baking Bonanza has been in progress a couple weeks now, I actually just started my holiday baking last weekend. This year I decided to go with the 3 Bs of Baking: Breads, Barks, & Biscotti! I’m using said theme to strap some boundaries around what usually turns into a big cookie catastrophe, for my kitchen anyway. Hopefully keeping within these three categories will enable me to tie a pretty little bow around my baked gifts while still allowing some creativity.
We will start with biscotti aka cantucci. For the sake of this holiday season and my Nonna from whom the base recipe comes we will call them biscotti. The biscotti series is going to come to you in four installments, one variation per installment, and will conclude with the orginal (and best) recipe from which all the other recipes were created. I know my mother is asking why mess with a good thing? Well, Mommy dearest, I can only post the real deal one time and there are over 360 days in the year. That, and you know me well enough to know I’m a meddler.
What I was surprised to learn was that after many not so perfect attempts at meddling with various biscotti recipes, these actually turned out just right! They don’t have the traditional essence of anise that make the original recipe so unique, but if you prefer or like these flavor combinations or just want to spice things up a bit these are all quite delicious! There is a METHOD to the madness and I was happy to learn that if you keep to the basic ratios and processes defined in the original recipe, the world is your oyster!
| 4 December |
Valentine’s Day always comes with a list of requirements that vary drastically depending on the sex with whom you are conversing. My requirements, post the days of heartshape meatloaf with the rents, include the sporting of my favorite black and red heart blouse and copious amounts of cheese and chocolate, emphasis on the latter. My girlfriends and I have spent many a Valentine’s Day experimenting with new items to cover and smother with cheese and chocolate, but I definitely think we got it right Senior year of college when we stopped messing around and went straight for the Krispy Kremes, from the original location in Winston of course.
Last year I actually had a Valentine, so what better gift to give to both him and my office of almost eighty women than chocolate chip biscotti. Luckily, I had a recipe saved in my Blackberry “To Do” list which had been verbally relayed in ounces and grams from the pretty little owner of the Italian restaurant in my condo building.
My roomate and I had ventured down to the late Allegro for a building happy hour, hoping to actually meet meet one of our neighbors. We sipped our complimentary champagne and nibbled on the perfectly al dente truffled risotto brought to us by a waitor who probably felt sorry for the loner ladies in the corner. As the mostly married with children couples fled home we were able to get seats at the bar, the key to my fated encounter with a little Italian biscotti called cantucci. When they brought out the tray of crunchy cantucci with perfect ribbons of chocolate rippling through their centers my jaw dropped. I MUST get this recipe.
| 5 March |
Lately I have been unimpressed in my search for fun and inventive appetizers. I can remember a time a few Christmases past when every appetizer I found was a “must have”, not up for negotiation. I spent parties slaving away in the kitchen, always to realize that my eyes are bigger than my and everyone else’s stomachs – not to mention my schedule. The result was less than perfection as my capacity to give every bite-size nibble its due attention was limited. Thus, in my recent forays I’ve returned to old favorites and am enjoying the extra time mingling, serving, and perhaps even enjoying an extra glass of wine (or two) with my guests. The following and my next post are two make-ahead miracles for your next soiree!
I got this recipe from my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, and adapted it to what was on-hand with just a touch of influence from those darned New Year’s resolutions… yeah right.
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