Traditional Italian Almond Biscotti

I had a craving for biscotti. And I thought to myself, why not go all the way? A traditional italian biscotti. I read the recipe: there was no butter. That should have sent warning bells to my head immediately. No butter equals one hard biscotti.

Traditional Italian Almond Biscotti
from Food Blogga

3 cups whole almonds
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 jumbo eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 large orange (about 1 -2 teaspoons)

plus one egg, lightly beaten for brushing tops of loaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large sheets with parchment paper.

Place almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a large bowl, hand mix toasted almonds, sugars, cinnamon, baking powder, and flour.

In a small bowl, whisk eggs. Add the vanilla and orange zest and whisk until well blended. Add to the flour mixture. Work the batter together with lightly floured hands. The mixture will be sticky, but persevere. Keep squeezing the batter with your hands, until a dough starts to form. Once the dough is firm, form a ball. Divide the ball into four equal pieces.

On a lightly floured surface place one piece of dough, and using your hands, roll into a log shape that is approximately 8 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 3/4 of an inch high. Repeat with remaining three pieces of dough. Place two logs per baking sheet.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the tops of the loaves are shiny and deep golden. Cool on a rack for about 20 minutes before slicing. Place a loaf on a cutting board, and using a large serrated knife, slice cookies 3/4 of an inch thick on the diagonal. If the cookie is crumbling, then let it cool a few more minutes. Don't let it rest too long, however, or they could become too hard to slice.

Place slices on their sides back on to the baking sheets; place in the still warm oven with the temperature off and the door closed for 30-60 minutes. The longer they stay in the oven, the harder they will become. Remove from oven and cool completely before storing in an air-tight container, preferably a tin, which helps keep them crisp. Stored properly, biscotti will last up to a month.

PB Cookies

It was one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions.

Wait. Rewind.

One of my "hobbies" is to flip through recipe books. And usually, when there aren't photos attached to every single recipe, I won't give the book another glance. (Mean, I know)

 So I surprised myself when I carefully flipped through the pages of a book - which didn't have a single photo (unless you count the hand-drawn animated ones.. but I admit, they were cute and suitable). Maybe it was the title that caught my eye: "Sweet Gratitude: Bake a Thank-You for the Really Important People in Your Life". The story behind it: dedicated to "the Cat Doctor", the author started bringing along baked treats for her cat's vet and his staff when her cat needed regular visits.

This is where I found the recipe for PB Cookies. Comfort food - at its best.

Peanut Butter Cookies
from Sweet Gratitude

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Before the year twenty-ten ended, I am extremely happy to say I was able hang out with Jessica, Jenae and Michelle <3 Great friends whom I met during my one year stay at FVAA. It's wonderful to be able to meet even after all these years and pick up where we left off. I'm grateful; I really am.

What was on our agenda? Red Velvet Cupcakes.

 And they were good. Really good. They turned out red and velvety - just like they were supposed to. Add the Cinnamon Cream Cheese on top and it was divine.  

Red Velvet Cupcakes
from Joy the Baker (check out her page for gorgeous photos)

4 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 tbsp red food coloring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Turn mixer to high and add  the egg.  Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste.  Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined.  You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour.  Beat on high until smooth.
Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar.  Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.
Spoon batter into a paper lined cupcake baking pan and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
double recipe to frost a 2 layer 9-inch cake

2 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, cold (we used room temperature, as Joy suggests)
scant 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-slow speed until it comes together and is well mixed.

Add the cream cheese all at once and beat on medium to medium-high until incorporated.
Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes, or until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Do not over-beat as the frosting can quickly become runny.

We had plenty of frosting left over. You might want to reduce the recipe.. Actually no, make the full amount and you have leftovers to "inject" into the cupcakes.

Key Lime Bars

I've been craving lime for the past little while. At Metrotown, I recently had a Key Lime Pie flavored Yogen-Fruz: natural lime flavored extract and graham cracker crumbs.It reminded me of the time in California where Rebecca, her mom, and I had Key Lime Pies (twice.. maybe three times) for dessert in the course of a week. Haha.

And when Daddy was scheduled for a visit, it seemed the perfect thing to make.
He apparently likes tart things.

The bars turned out wonderful - thanks to the fresh lime juice and zest, I think.
But it was too sweet for Daddy :(

Key Lime Bars
from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Crust
5 oz (2 1/2 cups) graham crackers
3 tbsp light brown sugar
pinch of salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp grated fresh lime zest
pinch of salt
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from 3 limes)

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with a foil sling and grease the foil.

For the crust: Process the graham crackers, sugar and salt together in a food processor to fine crumbs, about 15 seconds. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate, about 10 pulses. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until fragrant and deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.

For the filling: Stir the cream cheese, zest and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Whisk in the egg yolk and lime juice until combined. Pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake the bars until set and the edges begin to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

Let the bars cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours, then cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using foil, cut into squares.

Variation: Triple-Citrus Bars. Reduce the amount of lime zest to 1 1/2 tsp and combine with 1 1/2 tsp each grated fresh lemon zest and orange zest. Reduce the amount of lime juice to 6 tbsp and combine with 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1 tbsp orange juice.

Richard Bertinet's White Dough

 

There's a story behind this.

The book was a library book. I had borrowed it during the school term but as papers and exams came crept up on me, I never got around to baking anything from it. But I didn't want to return it - just yet. I ended up renewing the book 3 times: the maximum number of times I recently realized (and probably would have renewed it again had I been allowed).

What intrigued me was Richard Bertinet's "kneading" technique. He explained that American bakers knead their dough on a "lightly" floured surface, ending up with much more flour than as stated in the recipe,  altering the final product. His method was to repeatedly stretch the dough and trap air inside, eliminating the need for any extra flour. It made perfect sense. The complementary CD made it look so simple.

On the day I finally got around to baking bread, I was ecstatic. I had the CD playing on my laptop in front of me while I was "kneading" my dough. I admit, it was a bit of a challenge. I had to replay the clip 3 times to finally get the dough to the state it was supposed to be in. But I knew all that work would be worth it in the end. So you see how frustrated I was when the dough failed to rise (at all) even after an hour and a half in a warm place. I called the book stupid. I blamed the author. I was not impressed.

I didn't want to waste my bread flour that I bought for the first time and since I was halfway to the finish line, I decided to continue on and see what happened. Afterall, as long as it was edible... right? So I divided the dough in two and waited another hour. And when I flipped back my tea towel, I was in shock. The bread had risen! It had worked. Who knows what happened during the first rising but... in the end, all turned out well. When the oven timer went off and I pulled my bread out of the oven, it was love at first sight. I might even buy the book now. Unless I find another bread book I fall in love with.

This might be my favorite bread recipe - yet.

chewyyy

White Dough
from Richard Bertinet's Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads

10g (1 1/2 tsp) fresh/active dry yeast
18 oz (3 3/4 - 3 7/8 cups) white bread flour
10g (about 2 tsp) fine-grain salt
13 fl. oz in a measuring cup (1 - 1 1/2 cups) water

Rub the yeast into the flour using your fingertips as if making a crumble. Add the salt and water. Hold the bowl with one hand and mix the ingredients around with the other for 2-3 minutes until the dough starts to form.

Make the dough according to this method: 1) Slide your fingers underneath with your thumbs on top 2) Swing the dough upwards then slap it down away from you 3) Stretch the front of the dough towards you 4) Lift it back over itself in an arc to trap in the air. Continue until a smooth dough forms.

Form into a ball by folding each edge in turn onto the center of the dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating the ball as you go. Turn the whole ball over and stretch and tuck the edges over. Put in floured bowl and sprinkle flour on top. Let rest for around 1 hour, until it is roughly double in volume.

To shape into loaves: flatten the ball of dough a little with the heel of your hands. Fold on edge into the center and press down with the heel of your hand. Fold the other edge over into the center and press down again. Fold over in half and then press down again firmly to seal the edges. Turn over and place (seam-side down) in a greased loaf pan and let rise 1 - 1 1/2 hours until the loaves have nearly doubled.

Preheat the oven to 475 F/250 C. Turn down the heat to 425 F/220 C and bake for 20-25min.