Almond Biscotti

I’ve just wrapped up a week at home. My big plans for cooking and blogging elaborate meals were defeated by my need for sleep (and laziness). However, I did check one item off my list of things to make – biscotti.

I love biscotti. Over Christmas break my family and I killed an entire container of Nonni’s Biscotti. This led to an expensive coffee shop biscotti habit, and - well you know how these things can end. I decided to try my hand at making my own biscotti. It is safe to say I will never revert to my old coffee shop ways.

For my biscotti I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I omitted the orange zest and liqueur since I didn’t have them on hand, and instead added the slightest bit of almond extract (less than a ¼ teaspoon). Oh and the chocolaty goodness at the end, that was extra. I eyeballed it and used one part milk, one part butter and three parts semi-sweet chocolate chunks.

The finished product was dense, delicious biscotti with all the features of a decadent almond cookie.

P.S. Remember my hint about hanging in Detroit for the summer? Well, I’m here! Look for weekly updates intertwined with munchings on the latest happenings from me in the D for the next couple months.

Frosting for the Cause

Check out my guest post today on Frosting for the Cause! Frosting for the Cause is a 365-day baking project benefiting women affected by cancer.  I wrote about some of the women in my family who have battled cancer, and I baked S'mores Brownies for kids at the children's support group at the Cancer Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor.

La Capirotada

This morning, and Tuesday I made Capirotada for a skit in my Spanish class. We wanted to talk about/make something traditionally made during Carnaval but all my search results lead me to Capirotada - a bread pudding served during Lent in Mexico. It looked pretty delish, so naturally I threw my hands up in surrender and my group and I decided to talk about this dish instead. Two of my favorite "articles" about Capirotada were from blogs: MattBites & Homesick Texan.

I did a test run of the dish on Tuesday evening. I gave some to my roommates, and some to my group members when we practiced our skit, yet I still ended up eating most of it myself. Everyone loved it so I was up early this morning at 7:15 AM making it again for Spanish. I followed the recipe from Homesick Texan most closely.

To start boil 2 cups of water with 2 cups of brown sugar and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Meanwhile melt half a stick of butter and cut up a 24-inch French baguette in about half-inch slices. Next put down a layer of the sliced baguette, pour over half of the melted butter, a fourth of the sugar/water syrup and then 1 cup of pecans, 1/2 a cup of raisins, and 1 cup of QUESO! That's right, cheese - I used 1 cup of Cheddar Monterrey Jack. Finally, add the rest of the bread and coat everything in the remaining syrup and butter. Into the oven at 350 degrees, covered, for 20 minutes and then uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

So good! I made the bare-bones version, omitting the cloves, apricots. However, I think this dish lends itself to many variations - even healthy ones. You might be seeing this one again.