cherry•almond biscotti

Until she moved to Alaska last winter, my friend Mandy and I would get together regularly for afternoon tea time.  

That was back when my kids both napped regularly, so we'd sit and have a nice relaxing chat, sip our tea and nosh some treats while my boys snoozed away.

Ahh...

But Mandy left me and Owen rarely naps now, so my quiet afternoon tea has turned into a less quiet and relaxing but slightly more caffeinated afternoon coffee break.  

One thing that made today's coffee break a little more like the good old days was these cherry-almond biscotti.  I also had a little reminder of my friend Mandy with me: the lovely hand screen-printed napkins she made for me.  

If you love the napkins as much as I do, you can buy them at her Etsy store, HomesteadingRoasters.etsy.com (and it looks like she'll ship them for free right now).  If you need some good fresh-roasted coffee to go with your biscotti, she's got that, too.  

She's also good company for a quiet afternoon chat, but I'm not sure you can get that through her store...

the veggies (or other stuff):

• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 TBS oil
• 2 TBS lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder*
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup sweetened dried cherries
• 1 cup sliced almonds

the love:

1. Preheat your oven to 350° and line a large baking sheet with parchment.
2. Whisk together the flax meal and milk in a large mixing bowl until it thickens slightly.
3. Mix in the brown sugar, oil, lemon juice, and extracts.
4. Stir in the oats.
5. Add the flours, salt, baking powder and soda, and stir until just combined.**  The dough will be very thick and sticky.
6. Fold in the cherries and almonds.
7. Using floured hands, divide the dough in two and shape each chunk into a long log.
8. Place the logs lengthwise on the pan and flatten until each one is roughly twelve inches long and three inches wide.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden and crispy on the outside.
10. Let the "loaves" cool on a rack (but hold on to your pan and parchment) and reduce the oven temperature to 250°.
11. Slice the biscotti in 1/3 to 1/2 inch sections and spread out on your pan.
12. Toast for about 40 minutes, or until mostly crisp in the middle.
13. Let cool and serve with afternoon coffee (or milk).  Makes about three dozen.

tips:

*Double the baking powder and soda at lower elevations.

**My standard mixing disclaimer: most recipes will tell you to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, then stir them together-- this is to prevent clumping and ensure even mixing.  I'm lazy and don't like getting out and washing an extra bowl, so I do it all in one bowl.  To make up for it I try to mix the dry ingredients together on top of the wet before I really stir it into the the wet stuff.  If this is offensive to you, by all means, get out another bowl...

baked•ricotta

Brock and I went to Santa Fe for a long weekend for our first anniversary.  This was back in our BC (before children) era, when we could do (and afford) such things as take off for a romantic mini-vacation to an artsy (and expensive) town.  This trip has probably been romanticized in my memory a bit, but my memory says it was magical.
We'd have pastries and lattes at the bakery below the hotel every morning, and spend our days wandering through museums and galleries, eating amazing spicy New Mexican food, drinking strong margaritas, perusing jewelry sold by street vendors on the plaza, etc, into bliss.  We spent one morning meandering through the arts district and found ourselves at a cute, funky little tea house at lunch time (our first departure from New Mexican food, not counting pastries).  I had a tasty oolong and an incredible (and memorable) baked ricotta sandwich.  Brock had some weird bright-green foamy tea (matcha?), and a lunch that wasn't quite as memorable.

  
But the ricotta...  This was the first (and still only) time I'd had baked ricotta at a restaurant, and I never was able to find a decent recipe for it, so I created this one.  
Best dang sandwich this side of Santa Fe, if I do say so myself.


the veggies (etc):


-for the ricotta:

• Olive oil, for prepping the baking dish
• 32 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper, to taste

-for the sandwiches:

• Your favorite bread, sliced
• Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
• Roasted red peppers, cut into strips (4-6 strips per sandwich)
• Baby spinach, large stems removed (about 6 leaves per sandwich)
• Fresh basil, chiffonaded (did I conjugate this correctly?-- Or, in other words, shredded; a tablespoon or two per sandwich)

the love:


-for the ricotta:

1. Oil a 9x9" (or slightly larger)* glass baking dish and preheat your oven to 350°.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the ricotta and eggs until well-incorporated.
3. Add the garlic powder, basil, salt and pepper, and mix well.
4. Spread the mixture evenly into your prepared dish.
5. Bake for about an hour, or until the ricotta is firm in the center.
6. Cool slightly or completely before cutting.**

-for the sandwiches:***

1. Slice the ricotta into rectangles,trapezoids, or whatever shape and size best fits your bread.  Munch on any small odd-shaped pieces while you assemble sandwiches (good stuff, huh?).
2. Top a slice of bread with a piece of ricotta, then drizzle with balsamic.
3. Top that with a few strips of roasted peppers and several spinach leaves, then sprinkle with some basil shreds.  
4. Top with the other piece of bread and savor while contemplating the art of Georgia O'Keeffe.

notes:

*I make mine in a 9x9" dish, and the ricotta comes out pretty thick.  It's good this way, but sometimes a little messy.  In a slightly larger dish you'd get thinner slices but more of them, which could be a good thing...
**I often make this ahead of time and refrigerate until I'm ready to use it.  It tastes good at any temperature, but is nice and firm (thus less messy to eat) when cold.
**This is just what Brock and I like on these-- but there are probably a million ways you could dress up this ricotta and still have it taste fantastic.  For my boys, I just serve it plain on regular whole-wheat sandwich bread.