Saturday, March 29, 2008

Baking, Baking and More Baking

As if the list of goodies I’ve accumulated, patiently waiting to be baked, wasn’t long enough, I’ve just made sure that I wouldn’t run out of things to bake for at least a few years. For months I’ve been reading about one successful recipe after another, taken from this book.

I couldn’t wait any longer, Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan had to be mine. Not being able to find it in any book store was very frustrating, but, Amazon came to the rescue and a few days later I had THE book! And another one, but I’ll keep that as a surprise for later (tease, tease, tease). I was so happy to be able to join my first baking group, Tuesdays With Dorie, started by Laurie of Quirky Cupcake. Yes, I have jumped on the bandwagon and will be baking at least two recipes a month from the wonderful collection of sweet treats that is Baking. I couldn’t just let it gather dust on a bookshelf now could I? Of course, I also couldn’t wait a whole week without baking my first recipe from Baking so I looked through the Tuesdays with Dorie archives and chose a recipe that had already been baked by that fun gang.

I decided to make Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits and boy, I didn’t regret my choice. I even worked dinner around them as I didn’t want to bake them the next morning. So we had breakfast for dinner! I do that once in a while when I don’t feel like making what’s on the menu for that day. No one complained! I baked the biscuits the same way I bake my scones: pat the dough down in a circle on a round baking sheet (a pizza pan) covered with parchment paper then score the dough into 12 wedges.

I like my biscuits and scones with soft sides so I find this is the best way to bake them and it doesn’t overwork the dough. I ate way too many of these the next morning for breakfast, so I’m going to say a few seconds in the microwave and they’re good as new the next day! Really, I can’t say enough good things about these biscuits, you have to try them for yourself.

I am so happy about this purchase and about joining Tuesdays with Dorie, hopefully it’ll get me organized to bake once a week. Stay tuned for some tasty Tuesdays!


Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan
(Makes about 12 biscuits)

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream *(I used no fat yogurt, I had no sour cream)
1/4 cup cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between– and that’s just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading– 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even– a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting– just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Cake and a Few Things Unexpected

As most bloggers do, I love to read other’s blogs and drool over the photos and recipes. If I had time to bake everyday I’d have no problem with the growing list of recipes I’ve accumulated over the last year or so. But life gets in the way of baking and the list grows and grows.

Last week I saw a recipe on Brilynn’s blog, Jumbo Empanadas, that she made for the Foodtv.ca Cooking Club and I just couldn’t resist adding it to the list. I had a little time on my hands, on Easter Sunday, and I decided to bake the Light Swirl Coffee Cake from Brilynn’s blog. First I had to make apple butter though as it was one of the ingredients of the cake. So I made like 2 cups of apple butter to use 3 tbsp in a cake recipe! Yes I know, I’m obsessed, I have been called that before, I’m used to it. But if you make that apple butter, you’ll see it was worth it! Eat-it-by-the-spoonful worth it, tell-yourself-it's-healthy-because-it's-made-with-apples worth it. Of the 2 cups I made, I gave a small jar to a friend and there is only a small jar left. Oh yes, it's very, very good.

Now back to the cake, I’m not sure the 3 tbsp of apple butter it contains make much of a difference in the taste of the cake but that is one moist and delightful coffee cake! It was my first time baking a marbled cake and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

When I first saw the recipe, it was the cake that drew my attention, but in the end the apple butter was just as incredible as the cake. Two keeper recipes in one, unexpected is good.

Light Swirl Coffee Cake
Adapted From Christine Cushing

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted (500 ml)
1 tsp baking powder (5 ml)
1 tsp baking soda (5 ml)
1/4 tsp salt (1 ml)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (2 ml)
3/4 cup white sugar (175 ml)
0.625 or 2/3 cup butter unsalted butter at room temperature (150 ml)
1 cup no fat yogurt (250 ml), divided

3 x large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (5 ml)
1 tbsp lemon juice (15 ml)
3 Tbsps apple butter (45 ml)
2 Tbsps cocoa powder, sifted (25 ml)

Maple Glaze
1/4 cup maple syrup( 50 ml)

1 tbsp corn syrup (15 ml)
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice *(I had none of this so I used a mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and
ginger to make ¼ tsp)


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a bundt or tube pan. Tap away excess flour. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in sugar. Add the soft butter and ½ the yogurt and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes, just until mixture starts to come together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, apple butter and rest of yogurt. Add this mixture to the flour mixture in three batches, beating in between additions. Scrape down the sides and beat for 1 minute on medium speed, until batter is smooth.

Transfer half the batter to another small bowl. Add the cocoa powder to one batch and stir with rubber spatula to combine thoroughly. Pour chocolate batter carefully into other half and fold just twice to create swirl. Pour batter into prepared pan, gently.

Bake on the middle rack of oven for 45 to 55 minutes. Cake is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and top is golden. Leave cake in pan and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make glaze by combining all ingredients in small saucepan, until it comes to a boil.

Remove cake from pan, flip upside down and drizzle with glaze. Cool completely.


Apple Butter
Adapted from Michael Smith

10 x crisp apples, such as Spartans, Macs or Granny Smiths, cored and cut into quarters (Don't peel since much of the flavor is in the peel.)
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of apple juice
1/4 tsp each of nutmeg and cinnamon

1/16 to 1/8 tsp of cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place all ingredients into a large saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until apples break down and become very soft. Continue to reduce until 80% of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is very thick and dark brown.

Puree with an immersion blender, a standard blender or in a food processor. Sieve to remove any remaining pieces of apple peels.

Here’s something else I hadn’t expected, a few weeks ago, Lynn of the famed Cookie Baker Lynn blog, surprised the heck out of me by awarding this little blog an E for Excellence. Thank you so much Lynn, it makes me very happy to know that my photography and recipes are being enjoyed!

Now to pass along this award to a few deserving bloggers:

Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas, who always makes me laugh and has some of the best recipes;
Nic of Cherrapeno, for her tempting dishes and witty posts;
Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen for her great photos and sweet treats;
Kevin of Closet Cooking who amazes me with all of his varied recipes;
And Kristen of Dine and Dish who inspires me by the quality of her photography and writings.

I always look forward to new posts from these guys as they always contribute to my growing list of recipes to try!

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Saucy...

I’ve already been pretty clear about how much I love caramel. Favorite topping ever, on anything and everything. This caramel sauce is the best ever, really, I mean that.

Right out of the refrigerator, spread on your morning toast, the best. As a dip for crunchy apple slices, the best. Warmed up in the microwave and drizzled over, say, chocolate cake, spice cake or ice cream, the best! I don’t even use a candy thermometer for this one, I just my trusty stainless steel sauce pan so I can see the color of the sugar as it caramelizes. I don’t make it quite as dark as the original recipe suggests, as the first time I made it I found it had a burnt aftertaste.

So trusting my instincts I made it again this time cooking the sugar for a shorter amount of time and ending up with the most luscious, decadent, gorgeous caramel sauce. This keeps for like 3 months in the refrigerator, but really, who are we kidding, this sauce can be drizzled on almost anything so it sure won’t last that long!

CLICK! : The photo at the top of the post will be my entry for Jugalbandi’s CLICK Event, this month’s theme is Metal.

Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Rose Levy Berenbaum via Epicurious

The original recipe is full of useful information about understanding the process of making caramel and pointers for successfully making caramel. Also, the users’ comments on Epicurious are very useful as well so I strongly suggest you click over and read the original recipe if this is your first time making caramel.

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 liquid cup water
1/2 liquid cup heavy cream, heated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan, stainless if you have one, stir together the sugar, syrup, and water until the sugar is completely moistened. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is bubbling. You can use a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar that might have crystallized on the sides of the pan. Stop stirring completely and allow it to boil undisturbed until it turns a medium amber color. Immediately remove it from the heat and slowly and carefully pour the hot cream into the caramel. It will bubble up furiously.

Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until smooth, scraping up the thicker part that settles on the bottom. If any lumps develop, return the pan to the heat and stir until they dissolve. Stir in the butter. The mixture will be streaky but become uniform after cooling slightly and stirring.

Allow the sauce to cool for 3 minutes. Gently stir in the vanilla extract.

Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator, at least 3 months.

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

Time For More Doughnuts

Ever since it was Time to Make the Doughnuts I’ve been wanting to make these French Cruller Doughnuts. I saw them at Creampuffs in Venice and at The Biscuit Pusher, and both looked mouth wateringly good.

So I printed out the recipe and it’s been in my “to try” list for more than a few weeks. Along with, oh, let’s say dozens of other recipes, just so we don’t get our heads spinning, ok? Well, last Friday, I finally decided to try these. I made 4 huge doughnuts and 8 small éclairs. I was making choux paste after all, my better half would not have forgiven me if I hadn’t made any éclairs!

The choux paste came together surprisingly well, and baking these was much less stressful that frying! Also, I halved the recipe so I didn’t have too many batches waiting to go into the oven.

I’ll have to work on my pastry bag wielding skills though as I seemed to have the inability to make my doughnuts any smaller or to make my éclairs all the same length! But once we tasted them, we forgot all about their looks. Anyway, we didn’t look at them very long before devouring the whole lot!

French Cruller Doughnuts
Adapted from Marcy Goldman’s A Passion For Baking

Choux Paste Doughnut Base :
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsps pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs

Maple Glaze:
I cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp milk Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.

For Choux Paste Doughnut base: In a large saucepan, stir milk, water, sugar, and salt together over medium heat. Stir in butter and allow it to melt. Increase heat and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Stir in flour all at once. Blend well with a wooden spoon, adding vanilla and beating briskly until mixture forms a ball that leaves the sides of pan. Beat vigorously 1 to 2 minutes before removing from burner and turning out into a mixer bowl. Allow mixture to cool 5 minutes.

Using a wide whisk or wooden spoon, add eggs, 1 at a time, until mixture is smooth and glossy. Spoon choux paste into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch star tip. On prepared baking sheets, leaving some space between each pastry, make a 4-inch circle of batter with another circle on top -- concentric circles. If you don't have a pastry bag, use a soup spoon to spread out a ring of batter as best you can. It will be fine once it puffs.

Bake pastry 15 minutes; then reduce oven temp to 375 and bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until doughnuts are light in texture and medium brown all over. Cool slightly.

To make glaze, whisk everything together in a medium bowl to a thick glaze consistency. Dip each doughnut once, let excess drip off back into bowl, let set, and then glaze again. Let doughnuts set on a wire rack.

Note : With this recipe I made 4 doughnuts and 8 small éclairs. For the éclairs I used the same pastry tip as for the doughnuts and made them about 4 inches long. The baking times were about the same but start checking at around 15 minutes for the second baking time. Once they’re baked let them cool a bit and fill them with the pastry cream. You can do this either by cutting the éclairs in half and spreading the pastry cream on one half or keep them whole and fill the éclairs with a pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Then dip the top of the éclairs in the chocolate glaze.

Pastry Cream
Adapted from Ricardo Volume 3 Number 5
1 cup milk
1/3 cup of sugar
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan heat milk until it’s steaming. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, mix together sugar and flour. Whisk in the egg. Add a little warm milk to the egg mixture, then while whisking add the rest of the milk. Cook

over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it starts to boil let it cook for a minute or two, to desired consistency. Add the vanilla extract, transfer to a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream. Let cool in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Chocolate Glaze
1 tbsp butter
1 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a double boiler, melt butter with chocolate. Remove from heat, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until blended.

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Friday, March 14, 2008

Enjoying Dinner

Enjoying dinner with kids all depends on how they decide to react to what you put in their plate. One day they’ll eat whatever you put in front of them, without saying a word. The next they’ll be outraged because, horror, you put onions in your pasta sauce! Or “Mom! You put pepper in here, I can SEE the black flecks!”, and so on.

When I decided the other day, inspired by Ricardo yet again, to make a fish lasagna, I wasn’t sure how they’d react. I made it anyway, because, hey, I’m the Mom and I decide what’s for dinner, most the time anyway. I served it to my toughest critics and you know what? They ate it, without a word, they even liked it! So dinner was enjoyed by all and I have to say this lasagna was a welcome change from the usual pasta dish. Cooking the fish inside the pasta is a wonderful idea as it stays moist and tender. And the tomato and cheese sauces didn’t overpower the fish as I had thought it might.

All in all, this was a great dish and I’ll surely make it again. How will the critics react next time? You never know!

Pangasius Lasagna

I used Pangasius for this dish but you could use Tilapia or any other white fish for that matter. Also, I made a cheesy béchamel sauce but you could use cottage cheese or ricotta or even crème fraîche, just as long as you have something creamy in between layers of pasta. If you want to make this even quicker, you can use store bought tomato sauce instead of making your own.

Ingredients
For the tomato sauce:
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 ribs of celery chopped
1-28 oz can of crushed Roma tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

For the cheese sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and Gruyère, but anything would do)
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Lasagna:
12 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
4 Pangasius filets, about 1 ½ pounds
Tomato sauce
Cheese sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
For the tomato sauce:
In a large saucepan, heat olive oil. Sauté onions, garlic and celery until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat for ½ hour to 1 hour. Set aside.

For the cheese sauce:
In a large saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, stir with a whisk and cook for about 1 minute. Add milk and stir constantly until sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add cheese, salt and pepper, and stir until melted. Set aside.

For the lasagna:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Take out a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay 4 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, then add more tomato sauce, a layer of cheese sauce and a little mozzarella. Lay 4 more noodles, tomato sauce, the fish filets, a little more tomato sauce, cheese sauce and mozzarella. Lay the last 4 noodles on top of that, the rest of the tomato sauce, the rest of the cheese sauce and cover with mozzarella. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the top of the lasagna is golden brown. If it doesn’t get brown enough put it under the broiler for a few minutes, that should do the trick. Make sure to let the lasagna rest for at least 15 minutes before serving as it will be very hard to cut into squares strait out of the oven. Serve with a nice green salad.

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Monday, March 10, 2008

Cupcakes and a Spectacular Comeback

I am on such a maple kick lately that when I was deciding on which recipe to make for Cupcakes Spectacular, hosted by Arfi of HomemadeS, I thought it would be fitting to make a cupcake with maple flavorings. Oddly, I chose the garnish before I decided on the actual recipe.

Maple Pralined Pecans; I made this recipe a dozen times without fail except for once, this past Christmas. You’re supposed to put 1 cup of maple syrup in a saucepan with one cup of pecans, bring to a boil and stir for about 15 minutes until the syrup crystallizes onto the pecans. I stirred for like a half hour and nothing happened. The whole thing was a burnt, mapley mess. But, I decided to try again, telling myself I must have measured wrong or something last time. So I measure and mix and boil and stir and sure enough after 15 minutes nothing was happening, again. So before the whole thing burned again, I threw 2 tablespoons of butter into the mix, stirred and dumped everything onto my baking sheet. Lo and behold, a few minutes later after it had cooled, I had the most wonderful fudge-like maple pecan brittle I had ever tasted! Well, now I had my topping! Not wanting to overwhelm the cupcakes with maple, I made an apple-pecan cupcake with a maple frosting.

The maple taste is not very strong in the frosting alone but add the chopped up brittle and we’re in business! The cupcakes themselves, without frosting are really moist and fluffy, and the brittle, well, it’s a wonder I still had any to garnish the cupcakes! I had so much fun with this event and I learned a few things about myself : I can come back from a failed recipe with a back-up plan, which is always a good thing, and I can decorate cupcakes! Thanks for hosting such a great event Arfi!

Apple Pecan Cupcakes
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

I made 58 mini-cupcakes with this recipe, but I assume it would make 12 large cupcakes.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups finely chopped apples
3/4 cup finely chopped, roasted pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line cupcake molds of choice with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, stirring until batter is smooth. Fold in the apples and pecans. Spoon batter into the cupcake molds.

Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cupcakes are done when they spring back to the touch.

Maple Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups of confectioner’s sugar, sifted

6 tbsp maple syrup

Cream butter with an electric mixer, add confectioner’s sugar and maple syrup. Beat well. You can add more confectioner’s sugar for a thicker frosting. Also this recipe doubles easily.

Maple Pecan Brittle
Adapted from Ricardo Volume 3, Number 3

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup pecans
2 tbsp butter

In a medium saucepan, combine maple syrup and pecans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and stir for 15 minutes. Add butter, stir to combine and quickly spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let cool and break into pieces. Enjoy as is or chop up to decorate cupcakes.

Note: if after only 15 minutes the syrup crystallizes onto the pecans: Congratulations! You’ve made pralined pecans, something I’m apparently not able to do anymore. Just omit the butter and quickly spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They can also be eaten as is or chopped up to decorate the cupcakes.

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Friday, March 7, 2008

From The Tried And True List

Old-fashioned desserts, simple as can be, are often my favorites. This one comes from a recipe book my mom ordered in the mail from the Robin Hood Flour company.

It dates back to the 70s and it has got the best recipes, I mean the best: scones, cakes, muffins, breads, cookies, it has everything. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just simple recipes. I love that these days you can find almost anything on the internet but there’s nothing like opening an old (or new) recipe book and looking at the pictures, or in this case drawings, and just imagining how the recipe is going to turn out.

Whenever we visit my parents I’ll browse through the booklet and write down a few recipes and these recipes usually end up in my tried and true list, the list I look through when I want something foolproof. So without further ado, here’s a foolproof recipe for Maple Syrup Pudding Cake or as we call it in Québec, Pouding Chômeur.

Maple Syrup Pudding Cake

adapted from Robin Hood Flour

For the sauce:
1 ½ cups maple syrup
¾ cup water
2 tsp butter

For the batter:
1 cup flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9” square or round baking dish.

In a saucepan, mix maple syrup and water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, add butter and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients alternating with the milk. Mix well.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Carefully pour the sauce over the batter.

Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown. Let the cake rest a few minutes before serving.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Coffee Biscotti And Yet Another Snow Storm

I was looking for a way to show you all how much snow we’d had this year, and it’s not over yet, we’re having another snow storm today. It’s tough to take pictures of something white that’s practically everywhere!

So I decided on this little apple tree in the backyard. Planted just about 2 years ago, it’s tiny branches are now sticking out under more than 4 feet of snow! On days like these, I tell myself the snow will be melting until July! And then, I shrug it off, grab a biscotti and dunk it in a hot cup of coffee.

Which brings me to the recipe. It’s from Ricardo, again, and they’re the first biscotti I ever made. Of course what drew me to this particular recipe was the use of the ground coffee in the batter. I was intrigued at what the texture would be like.

Crunchy and full of coffee flavor these biscotti are wonderfully easy to make. Snow storm or not, you must give these a try!

Coffee Biscotti
Adapted from Ricardo Magazine Volume 1, Number 2

2 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp finely ground coffee
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, mix water and coffee, set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and egg until well mixed. Add ground almonds, roasted almonds and coffee mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl mix together flour and baking powder then add to almond mixture. Mix until a ball forms. The dough will be very stiff and you might have to mix with your hands.

Transfer the dough to a parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log about 16 inches long.

Bake in center of oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cut log diagonally into ½ inch slices. Place the slices on the same baking sheet and bake 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want them. I like them pretty crunchy so I baked them 25 minutes. Cool the biscotti on a baking sheet. These are absolutely delicious, of course, dunked in a hot cup of coffee!

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