Thursday, February 28, 2013

Apple Cinnamon Biscotti

Hello darling readers!


I love Italy... Or at least I think I do. I've never actually been. But I do love the idea of Italy.

Carafes of Tuscan wine. Cafes with cute little patios. Football...the real football. Not American football. The architecture. The canals. Endless meals of pasta, gnocchi and fresh tomato sauces and herbs and cheese. Tiramisu. And the language - oh so pretty.


Okay, that sounds an awful lot like any country I imagine in Western Europe. But there's nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place. I think I was meant for small town European living. Italian living. On the coast. On a small little farm with dogs and chickens and ducks, a couple of pigs and our own acre of vegetables. Detached from the materialism of North American culture, I'd get around on an old bicycle with a basket on the front. Every day would be a balmy 24 degrees and sunny. My days would be spent making slow food that we'd eat on the veranda looking out over the country side. I'd can tomato sauce made from tomatoes off my own vines and write and paint and read and sip tea and coffee all day long... my own home-made biscotti on the side.


Well, I've got the biscotti down, anyhow.

Baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.

Apple Cinnamon Biscotti
(printable recipe) - makes a lot.


Ingredients:

2 C Flour+ extra for dusting.
2 Tsp Baking Powder.
1/2 C Sugar + extra for dusting.
1 Tsp Salt.
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon.
Pinch of Nutmeg.
2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract.
2 Pastured Eggs, room temperature.
6 Tbsp Butter, room temperature.
1 C Apple, cored and diced.
1/2 C Blanched Slivered Almonds, toasted.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients save for the sugar. In another, the wet - but not the butter.

In a third bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the wet mixture. Mix well. Then add the dry, followed by the almonds and the apple.

Dump onto a well floured counter and massage until it's semi-dough like. Break into two halves and place each one on the parchment lined baking sheet. 

Shape into logs, about 1 1/2" thick and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.

Bake in hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool about 15 minutes. 

Slice the logs at an angle. Place back in the oven and bake a further 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the heat. Place biscotti pieces on wire racks to cool completely before serving.

Serve with a big cup of tea.

Eat.

What's your dream life look like? Where would you live? What would you do?

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1 comment:

  1. These Apple Cinnamon Biscotti sound fantastic...and I bet they smell amazing while they are baking too.

    My dream was always to live in England and get to travel, so in many ways I'm living that dream now :-)

    ReplyDelete