With a few weeks off for the holiday season, the upcoming new year, it is time to get things done that have been put off for a woefully long time. Â One of them is cleaning the refrigerator very thoroughly, washing, rinsing, and sanitizing surfaces and nooks and crannies in all its dark recesses. Â And dropping a glass shelf, which shattered all over the place. Â Hence, the first part of the title for this post. Â Cleaned up, we move on to the best part – the biscotti!
Holidays are about baking and cooking and eating and celebrating with friends and family and those you love, near and far. Â This year, Christmas day will be spent with family elsewhere, so the baking has begun. Â For a small contribution, we are bring praline bourbon cake to go with the annual gumbo, along with some biscotti, the recipe for which I found here at Foolproof Living, a cooking blog with a creative approach and lovely photography.
The recipe is easy enough. Â I used leftover candied peel from King Arthur, and chopped up dried peaches, cranberries, and cherries, all finely diced. Â The coconut was slightly sweetened and I used pecans instead of walnuts or macadamias. Â I also used up a very generous amount of rum.
Follow the recipe – it comes out quite nice. Â The batter may seem a bit dry, but when you add the macerated dried fruit, it moistens up quite a bit. Â Also, patting out the dough onto the parchment is really necessary as the dough is sticky. Â I found putting some water on my hands helped a bit. Â Also, our knives are very sharp, so I used a straight-bladed knife (my husband tests the sharpness of our knives by shaving a spot on his arm or cutting paper with the just-sharpened knife) to cut the biscotti.
Check out Foolproof Living – it has become one of my favorite blogs just because it has such a wonderful variety of recipes and interesting posts.
Happy Holidays!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 