To be or not to be? Chocolate and hazelnut biscotti (or cantuccini)

The other day I finally got around to making biscotti, although I feel the need to clarify I am calling them biscotti for your sake, because that is not what we call these in Italy.
 

Or rather, they are biscotti, because in Italy all cookies - biscuits for non-Americans - are called biscotti (and mind you, it is the plural for biscotto, so if you are eating one, do not call it a biscotti because Italians cringe at the mere sound - the same applies to panini, but that is material for a new post), but more specifically they are commonly known as cantuccini although their original name was biscotti di Prato, the city in Tuscany where Mattei invented them in the 19th century.

 

If you want to be even more accurate, as Italians tend to be about their culinary traditions, real cantuccini are never chocolate flavored and are not made with hazelnuts. Sure, variations exist now to satisfy tourists market demand but the true cantuccino is made with almonds and is usually enjoyed at the end of a meal accompanied with vin santo, a Tuscan fortified wine to dunk the dry cookies in.

 

So, come to think of it, if you call them biscotti you actually have a point. The word biscotto (bis-cotto) literally means baked twice in Italian, so calling cantuccini biscotti is really more accurate than calling a bacio di dama or any other typical Italian breakfast cookie a biscotto, as it is baked twice and most of the others are not.

 

This is a good recipe to keep because biscotti are great to have in the house for a variety of reasons: they are quick to make, you can use pretty much any ingredient on hand in your pantry (any kind of nut, chopped chocolate or dried fruit, seeds etc.), the dough contains no fat (no butter or oil) and very little sugar (but you can play around with quantities, these were definitely not sweet). They are great for breakfast (dipped in coffee, warm milk or cappucino), for tea or after dinner for impromptu guests with a glass of sweet wine. Best of all, they last a long time (although probably not for centuries as Pliny the Elder insisted), so you can always keep some stashed away for just those occasions.

 

I based my recipe on Lauren's many biscotti recipes. Her enthusiasm finally caught on.

 

Ultimate chocolate birthday cake

You have turned *beep* if:

your first lunch box was the original Star Wars lunch box

you watched Donny and Marie sing "I'm a little bit country/rock'n'roll"

you remember Michael Jackson's nose

you remember when an apple was just a fruit

Orwell's 1984 was still a book about the future

seat belts were optional growing up

shoulder pads were a big part of becoming a teenager

More reasons to feel old:

1. you were born last century

2. you husband remarked during your birthday dinner that your dad wasn't much older than you are now when they first met

3. the language of the country you live in has a different suffix from this decade on

You know you did pretty well your first *beep* years:

1. when you celebrate your birthday dinner with a husband and two children you are head-over-heels in love with

2. tons of people you care about from all around the world call you, text you, email you and write you to wish you a happy birthday

Many years ago my mother-in-law (who is not Chinese by the way) passed on a real pearl of wisdom that I think of every day of my life: never complain about your age because if you are alive to talk about it, you should consider yourself a blessed person.

So true. I am a very lucky girl woman. I am 40 and I am proud of it! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

To celebrate, chocaholic that I am, I decided a wanted a dark, moist, rich, chocolate birthday cake. I wanted the kind I can't get on this side of the ocean, with layers and frosting. For the beginning of my fifth decade I wanted the whole shebang.

That is how I came to attempt my first layer cake ever. It was also one of my first frosting experiences. It was fun, it was easier than I expected. It turned out delicious.

It wasn't me, it was the recipe.


It delivers exactly what it promises: the moistest, darkest, most chocolaty cake you could imagine. It is a recipe I have been seeing around a few blogs, it has been handed down through generations apparently. It turns out it is a recipe posted on the Hershey's website. I followed the "Especially Dark" Chocolate cake recipe and used a some coffee as suggested in the Black Magic Cake recipe. 

The batter is very runny. So runny you will think you went wrong somewhere. You didn't. Also, there is no butter or chocolate in the cake, so it is not as heavy as you would imagine. Go on, what are you waiting for? Don't wait until you turn 40. Any day is a good day.



Runny batter. See how runny it is?



Black and white chocolate berry tart

When it comes to grilling, every country in the world has its traditions. In the US a BBQ just isn't a BBQ without hamburgers and hot dogs. In Italy, grilling or la grigliata is all about our friend the pig. The preferred meat is undoubtedly pork. A hamburger is a very rare (no pun intended) find, but there will be no lack of sausage in all shapes and sizes on an Italian grill and even pork ribs, chicken and lamb will often make an appearance.

And then, the one thing you will find at pretty much every BBQ in Italy, the spiedino.

It looks pretty much the same (and tastes pretty much the same if you ask me) wherever you go, north or south, east or west, at a town fair or in your back yard. It is a brochette with alternated pieces of pork in various forms (sausage, pancetta, pork loin), red or green peppers for a dash of color, and onions and frankfurters if you get lucky.

Perhaps you have to be an Italian to really appreciate it and I will not argue the importance of its presence on la griglia as long as you don't start questioning that delicious, juicy burger on my grill. But I love pretty much everything else a grigliata has to offer: summer, friends, ripe red tomatoes, flowing local wine, cold beer, salami made by the farmer next door, wonderful grilled and marinated vegetables picked in the morning from the garden, lamb chops and sausage, beautiful landscapes and if you get really lucky, the ancestor of the modern BBQ, a grill over an authentic wood fire.

The kids made perfume: note the fig and green tomato for fruitiness

And to top it off a summery tart that is quick to make, not too sweet and cleanses your palate after all that oink oink.

What do you barbecue where you come from?

Ingredients (for 12 servings)

For crust

250 gr (1 box) Digestives (or graham crackers)

130gr butter

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 tbsp conferctioner's sugar

For filling (adapted from a recipe in Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess)

75gr white chocolate, melted (plus a little for decoration)

200gr mascarpone cheese

150gr cream

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

In a food processor or by hand, crumble the cookies and then mix in the butter, sugar and cocoa. Grease an 11 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom and press the cookie mixture into the bottom and along the sides. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Start making your filling by melting the white chocoalte. While it is cooling, beat together the mascarpone cheese and the cream and then gently fold in the white chocolate. Fill the crust and decorate with the raspberries and blueberries, or another berry of your choice, and sprinkle with some grated white chocolate. Serve cold.

Fudgesicles

Most of us working in offices have a routine, something that makes the endless hours sitting at a desk in front of a computer, day in and day out, bearable. The kind of routine you actually grow fond of and almost come to look forward too, especially if you have little kids at home. Those habits that make your day orderly, that dictate the rhythm of your work.

Checking your emails and missed calls, reading the headlines of the papers, a steaming cup of coffee and a chat by the coffee machine, lunch (and a look at your favorite sites and blogs whilst chewing), some gossip or a few laughs with a colleague on the way to the ladies'/mens'.

Except those days when the *beep* hits the fan, like today. When everything is hectic and crazy and there is no time to even go the ladies' room. This of course always happens when half your team is on summer vacation. But hey, the worst is over (should I even be writing that?) and today is Friday (T.G.I.F.) so I wish you all a lovely week end and a Happy 4th of July to all you lucky ones who have a lonf weekend to spend with the family.

Here is a great treat to enjoy with the family on a hot summer's day, reminiscent of childhood and belly flops and hot dogs and sprinklers.

Do you have an office/work/daily routine?

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen  (original recipe by Matt Armendariz).

Ingredients (for 4 popsicles)

2 tablespoons chopped semisweet chocolate

1/3 cup/70gr sugar

1 tbsp potato starch (or cornstarch)

1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 cup/300 ml milk

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tbsp butter

Melt the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips if you prefer) over very low heat, stirring constantly. When smooth, stir in sugar, potato starch, cocoa powder, milk and salt and raise heat a little. Cook until the  mixture thickens, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, add vanilla (my homemade batch isn't ready yet so I skipped this step) and butter and stir until well combined. When the mixture has cooled pour it into popsicle molds and freeze.

Double chocolate chip cookies

I reached cookie nirvana on Friday.

These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. This is what I expect from the perfect cookie, what I have never been able to replicate in my kitchen. This cookie is chewy, chunky and fudgy. My other chocolate chip cookies were pretty good if I can say so myself but these are perfect. In taste, texture, size. And they didn't turn flat a few minutes out of the oven. Don't ask me why or how. I've tried all the tricks. Freezing. Resting the dough for 24, 36, 48 hours. I've tried adding more or less butter. I've used different kinds of sugar. I've tried underbaking and they turned out... well, underbaked. While baking these I even added the egg later than I should have. It mattered not, still perfection.

The recipe did not seem so very different from others I had used. There were the usual promises of the best cookie ever, but I wasn't convinced. I had seen beautiful photos before and my end product never turned out looking quite the same. So I can't tell you why they turned out so good. What I can say is that just writing about the lack of inspiration I was feeling on Friday, putting it out there, got my creative juices flowing again. I literally ran home from work and baked these beauties in the two hours I had to pack, pick up the kids and leave for the week end. I barely had ten seconds to take a couple of pictures. They do not do these cookies justice. Make them yourself, you'll see.

These are brownies and chocolate chip cookies all in one. They made the perfect gift for the perfect week end. Nature leaves me speechless, by the way.

Please click to zoom...it is worth it, I promise

You forget that a few hours from a city, even in an overcrowded country like Italy, there is such beauty.

Thank you for your comments, for sharing your similar experiences and for your support on my last post. I know that for every comment left there are at least ten more of you out there that feel the same way. And last but not least, check out my blogroll. I finally updated it a few weeks ago with some of my favorite blogs.

Recipe adapted from A Full Measure of Happiness.

Easter egg brownies for grown ups

If you are anything like me, this post may be a tad late because this is a recipe to use up some of that left over chocolate from Easter. If you have any left over, that is.

Now I am the perfect mom, only allowing my kids a few pieces of their chocolate Easter eggs here and there. To then sit in front of the TV while they are in bed chomping on their goodies. I know, I know... but what goes better with gilded uniforms, diamond tiaras, white gloves and lace sealed with a kiss in front of a cheering crowd then that sugary goodness?

Ok, I actually watched the royal wedding of the decade in the office with a bunch of colleagues, some (men) feigning disinterest but nonetheless peaking at Kate, Will, Pippa & Co. (especially Pippa). After all, we do work in an investment bank and it was a bank holiday across the Channel so our phones and emails on Friday were pretty dead as a result.  

I did however stuff my face nibble on my childrens' Rapunzel and Barbapapa chocolate eggs during a few episodes of Glee.

 

So now you understand why it was essential for me to get rid of that stash immediately. Problem being, I do not bake with milk chocolate. I started searching the Internet thinking I would just come up with tooth-achingly sweet recipes only suitable for kids. Not so. With a little research and some tweaking here and there, I actually made something much more grown up and healthy than I expected (with an added bonus: the kids liked it too).

There is no butter in this recipe, the moistness coming from the Greek yogurt, but it is rich and dense, the sweetness mainly coming from the nuggets of creamy milk chocolate these brownies are studded with. If it weren't for the children, a dash of coffee would have been perfect in the batter. If you try it, let me know.

(My) Clooney's Nutella-filled butter cookies

Yesterday we had a picnic at George Clooney's.

  

 I didn't say we actually shared sandwiches and camembert with him, but we did take a drive to Lake Como, we sat and gazed at the amazing view (not Clooney, for all I know he is not even around right now) from Cernobbio, fed the ducks and swans with our left-over bread and then drove by his 100% paparazzi proof gates villa. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day, the real first hint of spring we have had this winter.

I baked these sweets for my very own George Clooney, my handsome Italian husband, the only man I have eyes for (although I will admit I frequently eyed the motorcycles riding by our car and craned my neck to see where the basketball court of Laglio is, where George is rumored to play with the locals).

But back to the cookies. For someone who declared not to be much of a cookie baker, I have been on quite a roll lately. It all started because I had a whole, new jar of Nutella sitting in my kitchen that I had bought when I was caught up in the excitement of the Nutella muffins I made a while back.

Now, you must know there is a favorite cookie in Italy called Grisbì that has a lovely soft, Nutella-like center. For some reason I decided I wanted to attempt making them on Friday night, I was set on creating a button of rich, buttery dough that hid a creamy nutty, chocolatey heart. I searched online and found just a few, very approximate recipes. I proceeded to make them quickly, by hand. They turned out rustic and moreish and oh, so good.

Both kids loved them (have I mentioned that my daughter is not a cake/muffin lover and only eats about 10% of what I bake these days?) and my husband F asked me last night if I could pretty please make them again...not bad eh?