Sunday, January 25, 2015

Biscotti with Almonds and Chocolate

Is there a specific food you enjoy eating but have never actually considered making in your home kitchen? Oh wait, there are probably wayyy too many foods that would fit that list to make this a fair question! For me, the extremely long list of "things I know I can make at home but have never tried" include items like homemade chicken stock, ricotta cheese, and granola bars, among many many other uncountable things.


Happily, this past week I knocked one new item off the list: biscotti. I've always loved biscotti, but somehow never considered making it until I ran across this recipe from a blog I am currently obsessed with called Alexandra's Kitchen. Suddenly, this fancy dessert that I never even truly thought of as a run-of-the-mill cookie seemed much more approachable. In fact, the difficulty level is on par with your basic chocolate chip cookies, except for the fact that you shape the dough into logs, which you then slice into bars halfway through baking. They're also less sweet than your average cookie, which make them perfectly acceptable to dunk into your morning cup of coffee or tea (That's acceptable, right?).

*Note: I customized the original recipe to include chocolate chunks in addition to the sliced almonds. Feel free to customize your own by swapping in pistachios or another item of your choice.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup sliced almonds

½ cup chopped dark chocolate (optional)

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1¼ cups sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract (if you don’t have/want this just use more vanilla extract)

Directions:
1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sliced almonds and chopped chocolate, if using.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugars until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and blend again.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend on low-speed until just combined.
4. Remove the dough from the mixer and divide into two equal portions. Take one portion of dough and place onto the upper half of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form the dough into a long rectangle about an inch high. Repeat with remaining half of dough, using the lower half of the same baking sheet. If you have the time, chill the prepared dough in the fridge for one hour and up to 3 days. 
5. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the logs are evenly golden brown. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Carefully transfer logs to a cutting board. Cut the logs crosswise on a slight bias with a sharp knife. Lay the cut slices on their sides on the baking sheet. Return pan to the oven for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely.



 Carefully shape the dough into two rough logs. My dough was an odd combination of sticky & dry textures but I shaped it as best I could - no need to look perfect at this stage
 You will end up with what looks like two giant rectangular chocolate chip cookies. Time to slice those babies into bars, as seen below.

 
  Pack the cooled biscotti into a cookie tin for safekeeping. You can even put half the bars in the freezer inside a tightly sealed ziplock bag - this is my go-to method for all cookies in order to control the amount of cookies I eat!




Monday, January 19, 2015

Curried Sweet Potato-Apple Soup

I have a confession. I really really wanted to post about cookies or cake today. Think along the lines of crunchy dark chocolate biscotti or creamy homemade Boston cream pie. But. It is the new year, and in honor of many likely reader resolutions to try and stay healthy this year, I thought I should abstain for all our sakes. Until next week, at least! 

My next confession, which you can probably tell by looking at my recipes page, is that I love a good pot of soup. Cue the music for my most recent soup discovery, courtesy of my parents who attend a monthly cooking club dinner. Yes, I am jealous of them and you should be too - the menus they make are absolutely amazing! 
 



This Curried Sweet Potato-Apple Soup is a wonderful fall or winter soup with complex flavors that somehow work well together. The sweet potato is creamy, the apple lends sweetness, and it is all taken up a notch by the addition of the spicy curry powder, which you can dial up or down as your tastes dictate. Add a few fun toppings (optional) and you have a healthy, warm winter meal ready to go! 






Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 2 -inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh if you have it)

1 1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/4 cups chunky applesauce

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro



Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel and dice 2 1/2 sweet potatoes. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, nutmeg, 1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until toasted, 1 more minute.

2. Add the diced sweet potatoes, chicken broth and 2 cups water to the pot, cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the applesauce. Simmer, covered, until the sweet potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Puree the soup with a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper; keep warm.


3. Meanwhile, peel and thinly slice the remaining 1/2 sweet potato and toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes.
 

4. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon curry powder and cook, stirring, until browned; remove from the heat and add the vinegar. Top bowls of soup with the curry butter, cilantro and sweet-potato chips.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Turks and Caicos Holiday

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and rang in 2015 with a bang. As always, I manage to be shocked and disbelieving that the past year went by so quickly. However, when I stop and think back and all the things I've done and the places I've been in 2014, it seems like a pretty lengthy and fun-filled year!

That said, I am already looking forward to 2015 and the new adventures it has in store. As with years past, I have not made any official new year's resolutions. But that's not to say that I don't have some more loose and unofficial goals for the year ahead. Some of these include: join a book club, find an opportunity to volunteer, eat fewer processed foods, wear more sunscreen, travel to New York City and maybe even Europe, and to accept my next big life transition - when Stuart graduates from his master's program - with grace and enthusiasm. We have no idea what we will be doing or where we will be living six months from now, but I guess that is part of life's wild ride!

 

Did I mention that we just got back from an epic family vacation in the Turk & Caicos, Caribbean?? It has been quite some time since my family has been able to wrangle everyone for a true family trip, and this one was beyond amazing.

We flew to Providenciales, where we stayed for 2 nights soaking in the beautiful light blue water and soft powdery sand. Then we took a 30 minute ferry to the North Caicos, where we rented a big car and drove 45 minutes to Middle Caicos, a large and very remote island with only one hotel and two restaurants to its name. We stayed at - you guessed it - the only resort on the island called Blue Horizon, which is made up of individual houses and bungalows. Our rental house had the best ocean views I've ever encountered. We swam, snorkeled, caught lobster, cooked our own meals, played card games, and had the best time. If only it was closer, I think we'd all go back in a heartbeat!

 
 View of our beach from Middle Caicos resort
 Stuart soaking in the sun in Providenciales
 Walking on the beach in Mudjin Harbor, Middle Caicos
 Collecting conch shells on the beach in Bambara, Middle Caicos
 
 Kayaking amid the mangroves in Middle Caicos
 
 See you again someday, Turks & Caicos!!