Bake Bittman's Biscotti

I have a small addiction, I can not start my day without a coffee and a biscotti. Often I can't even drink my coffee without having a biscotti to dip. I have been known to drive across town just to get my biscotti fix. I will even brave Saturday morning Granville Island traffic just to get some. 


I get my fix from a place called Terra Breads in the GI public market. For the past almost 10 yrs I have been making a weekly treck to get the double baked cookies for my morning dunks. However the Olympics has thrown a wrench in this and I have been left high and dry as I do not want to contend with the crowds and restrictions imposed on the local market.


Also it has come to my attention, I have never really looked at the numbers before, I spend over $40 a month ($480 a year!!!!) on biscotti. Not necessarily the most costly habit, there are much worse, but it is still an expense that I can cut back on. We make our latte's at home why not make my biscotti at home as well?

The tots and I embarked on a baking adventure. Turns out they like a steamed milk and biscotti in the morning too. In the past I have tried several recipes with not much luck. I thought I would give Mark Bittman's from  How To Cook Everything a try using chocolate chunks and anise seed additions.

Biscotti: 

Great for dunking in coffee or dessert wine.

• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the sheet. 
• 3/4 cup eggs
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond
• 2 1/4 cups flour plus more for dusting the baking sheets.
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp anise seeds
• 3/4 chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375f. Ready two baking sheets by greasing and lightly flouring, tap out excess flour. 

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; beat in one egg at a time. Mix all of the dry ingredients including the the anise seeds in a separate bowl. Leave chocolate chunks until the very end of the recipe. Combine the dry ingredients with the butter mixture a little bit at a time until a batter is formed. When fully combined add the chocolate chunks and mix through on a low speed for a couple of turns. You do not have to beat the batter, you just want the chunks evenly dispersed.

Turn dough out and form two logs about 2 inches wide, place one on each sheet and flatten the top slightly. 

Bake for about 30 minutes on a middle shelf and no lower until the top of the logs crack and there is a golden brown colour on the sides and at the base. Remove from oven and lower the temperature to 250f.  When logs are cool enough to handle gently cut (a serrated knife is best) on a diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.

Place the slices back on the sheets and bake an additional 15-20 minutes until dried out. Turn half way through. When done transfer to a cooling rack as soon as you can. But whatever you do, do not leave them unattended with a amped up not napping  three year old in the vicinity!

I'm pretty happy with it, it will do until I can tweak it and make it my own. 


photos by me.

Ritual

My husband and I use to live next to the Granville Island Public market, rarely a day would go by that we did not visit for one reason or another. For work, for play, for school for shopping it was our Island, we use to joke about not leaving the "Island". So when we moved a away a couple of years ago, we were like fish out of water and did not settle into a new home for a  good long time (7 moves in fact). 

There are so many rituals, even our mundane daily chores that we call routines are rituals.... We do them in a certain order, at the same time, with ritualistic objects (brushing our teeth comes to mind, we do it for hygiene, for beautification, we use a toothbrush and toothpaste at a ceramic basin and in front of a mirror)... So every Week (usually Wednesday) I make it a ritual to go to Granville Island and get my weekly ingredients plus all the makings for Pizza on friday nights. 


Even the way I move through the market is ritual. First I go to Terra Breads and get my weeks worth of biscotti for my ritualistic morning latte.  Then other various baked goods- one loaf of sour dough bread, and two orange shortbread cookies; the two short bread cookies are bribery- I use then to distract the twins and allow me to shop. Then to Oyama Sausage Co. for 100g finocchiona salami, various snacking cheeses (The Farmhouse's St George is a favourite) and a few gyulai, for my husband's lunch (that he never eats but I buy anyway because he asks for them week after week). Then onto Duso's to get fresh mozzarella. If I am lucky and depending on season I go to Garden Back to Eden Organic for my tomatoes and basil.


When I am done I pack my groceries into the car, drive away from my place of sanctuary and say good-bye to the "Island" for another week.


Photo by me.