Merry Christmas!

"I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got, but there is much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant - Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see - and to see we have only to look. Take joy!

And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

Fra Giovanni, 1513

christmas biscotti

I've been making these at Christmas for so long, I can't even remember when the tradition started. I do know I found a recipe in Biscotti that everyone loved, and it happened to be at Christmas, so I naturally kept thinking of them around December 15th. Since we had an ice storm, and I had no power, the making of the Christmas Biscotti ( cioccolato paradiso in the book) was delayed. But today it was snowing hard, so it turned out to be the perfect day for baking - especially since these take two hours to make and bake.

They are heavenly - crunchy with toasted almonds, diced orange peel, and milk chocolate - festive, dunkable, and wonderful to pack in pretty bags and attached to presents. Heaped on a plate or in a glass bowl works well, too.

To make about 3 dozen:

1 cup toasted whole almonds, then sliced into thirds

(it doesn't taste as good using slivered or flaked almonds)

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup plus 2 T. sugar, used in two parts in the recipe

3 eggs, extra large, separated

1 1/2 t. vanilla

zest of a large orange, finely diced ( take off as much white pith as possible)

3 cups King Arthur flour

2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips or chunks

To toast the nuts, place in toaster oven until they start to smell deliciously toasty, remove to a cool plate immediately so they stop cooking.

In mixer bowl, place egg whites and beat until soft peaks form, then slowly add 1/2 cup sugar to the meringue. Beat until stiff, then scrape into a bowl. (don't forget to add it later!)

Using the same mixer bowl, add the butter and 1/2 cup sugar plus 2 T. and beat til fluffy.

Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla and orange zest.

Add and mix the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

The mixture will be crumbly.

Fold in the meringue very, very well, then add the almonds and chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Fit a baking pan with foil - you'll be cutting it in two later, so using foil or parchment is important.

Scoop the stiff batter into two lines about 3 inches apart diagonally. My batter logs measure about 12 inches by about 4-5 inches.

With wet hands, smooth the logs out and square the ends.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until tops of logs are golden and quite firm to the touch.

Remove baking pan to a cooling rack for ten minutes.

Cut the foil down the middle, so each log is separate.

Very, very carefully, firmly hold each end of foil and gently move log to a wooden cutting board. Roll gently over and remove foil.

Do the same with the other log.

Take a very good bread knife or serrated knife and saw the slices of biscotti into one inch pieces. Place the biscotti upright on the baking pan. Set oven to 300F.

Cut all the biscotti, filling the baking pan.

Bake biscotti a second time, at 300F for ten minutes. Turn off oven and remove biscotti.

Let cool completely, then package in bags or tins. Of course, after all that work, set aside some fresh biscotti , brew up some strong coffee or espresso, and dig in .

Having a party? These are lovely heaped on a big platter or in a glass bowl.

Featured in TasteSpotting!

a touch of the exotic - maamouls cookies

I love running into something I've never eaten, let alone heard of - so I was delighted when my sister gifted me a box of these cookies from a small bakery in NH. (Betz Baking in Chesterfield, NH)
These are traditional cookies from the MidEast : popular in Syria, Lebanon, and Armenia. The dough is ( I think) made up and pressed into traditional wooden molds, then filled and topped. The dough is delicious : made up of butter , flour, farina, sugar, rose water, and mahlab (ground sour cherry pits); the fillings range from apricot puree, pistachio, date puree with cloves and whiskey, or a date puree with walnuts, cloves, and whiskey.
Wish I could get my hands on one of those molds - I would love to make a sweet potato pastry, or...hummm....marmalade with something like ricotta.
The heavy sprinkling of confectioner's sugar brings out that great detail from the mold - and whoever thought up ground sour cherry pits for part of the dough just astounds me.....

safe and warm at last! ( the ice storm)

What a long haul it's been - almost a week to the hour since the ice coated trees began crashing down across every road and highway across New Hampshire. Even days later, when I ventured out for candles and drinking water, the huge, 3 story trees lay across the road, resting on curls of wires and transformers. To pass, you waited, eyeing the wires, then the trees. You rolled your window down so you'd hear the crack as the wires and trees went down, and then gunned the car, just barely sneaking under the fallen trees, hearing the car antenna boing when it was just too close.

It's been tough, but all I can say to the hordes of public service workers, the guest volunteers from Florida, Oregon, and other states so far away who drove up to help, to the firemen and women, the Rescue departments - all volunteers, and gracious and hardworking. - THANK YOU! Now - off to wash dishes in WARM water and finally , maybe, get a good nights sleep.

Thank you all for sending good thoughts my way.

Katrina

An Update for Katrina

Hi everyone, Kelci Hedrick here, posting a quick note on behalf of Katrina.  If you've heard anything about the weather in New England lately, you're probably aware that Southern New Hampshire got hit hard by a major ice storm. It's expected that many residents in this area will have no power for several days, and Katrina is unfortunately one of those. 

She is told that she should have power to her home on Tuesday - in the meantime, she wanted her loyal readers to know why she's not creating any new posts or responding to your comments. 

I hope you are all warm and safe during this icy time of year. Sending best wishes to you all,

          - Kelci   

potato soup with crunchy scallions

I posted this back in summer, but this one has a slight variation for winter. As you know, I love anything potato, and with all the cookie and candy making going on for Christmas, this soup is just the right thing to be eating after "tasting" all those sweets - soothing, smooth, with a surprise of crunchy fresh scallions and the sweetness of dill.

To make:

2 cups large dice potatoes - red or white

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1/1/2 T. unsalted butter

3 cups water/chicken stock - I like it half to half, but you may prefer just stock.

1 t. dried dill

1/2 t. dried thyme

1/2 cup light cream

salt and freshly cracked pepper

2 T. sliced, very fresh scallions, trimmed - include both green and white parts

Serves two.

Melt butter in a pot and add the chopped onions.

Turn heat to low and cook, covered, for about ten minutes, or until soft.

Uncover and add the water and chicken stock, the thyme, potatoes, and salt and pepper.

Let cook uncovered until potatoes are soft.

Turn off heat and add the dill.

Using a blender or immersion blender, puree soup.

Add the cream and stir.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with sliced scallions.

Enjoy!

southern breakfast: silky collards and cornmeal cakes

I made a real Southern style lunch yesterday - with silky collards, cornmeal mush cakes - and even pralines - and ate it happily as I watched the snowflakes fall.

I spent several years in the South, and it remains part of my cooking ( and eating) history.

I never used to cook collards right. I'd rinse them, slice them up, and then briefly parboil them, wondering why they were a little too tough. Then I ate at Redbones BBQ in Cambridge, and tasted their silky collards flecked with hot pepper flakes and fatback and realized my mistake. You have to cook them a long time - about an hour is right, with plenty of fat - I use smoky bacon and salt pork or fatback.

My side was simply cornmeal mush cakes with fresh scallions and rosemary, cut into a disc.

To make:

A bunch of collards, rinsed and trimmed of stems ( I cut off the stems, then tear the collard leaves off the center stem on each leaf)

Up to 2 cups diced salt port and thick, smoky bacon

salt

hot pepper flakes

Place trimmed collards in a large pot.

Add water to just below the top of the collards.

Add the salt pork and bacon. hot pepper flakes, and some salt

Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for about an hour, covered, checking often and stirring the collards.

Pick out the diced fatback ( or some of it) place in microwave-safe dish, and cover with a paper towel. Microwave for 2 or 3 minutes and it will brown up.

Scoop the collards into bowls or mugs, add some of the cooking liquid, and top with some of the browned fatback.

Serve with hot sauce.

For cornmeal cakes:

2 cups water

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup chopped scallions and fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring water to a boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add salt , pepper, and herbs to boiling water, then slowly whisk in the cornmeal ( and cheese, if using).

Turn down heat and continue to stir until cornmeal is thick.

Pour onto a plate and cool.

When cool, cut cornmeal into discs and briefly reheat in microwave.

You can also skip the herbs and make plain cornmeal mush and serve the cakes with syrup - kids love it!