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I love biscotti. For the longest time, I sat back in awe, envious of friends (on- and offline) who make it look like it’s a walk in the park to prepare. For me it was intimidating, especially the fact that it has to be baked twice. I don’t know why, but just the thought of that thwart any attempt at it! Enter Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox’s book, “The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own“. I pored through the pages, checking the ingredients and processes, and unapologetically drooled over the sweet delights. Then, like cowlick on a well-manicured lawn of a hair, 3 recipes stood out: those of the twice baked cookie variety called the Biscotti. Hello, self-imposed yoke.

It’s crazy to think that some of us have mountains to move when it comes to baking:

• Mt. Cake
• Mt. Macarons
• Mt. Pie
• Mt. Jelly Rolls…I’m still talking about baking here…
• Mt. Cinnamon Rolls
• Mt.Homemade Bread

What else? What’s your baking nemesis?

My friend is leaving to go back to her new home across the border, and I wanted to give her something for their long flight. Biscotti would make a perfect travel snack: light, TSA-friendly, and will survive the journey. And there it was, my work cut out for me and I was ready to face another fear in the kitchen. Luckily, my first try worked like a charm. DeMasco’s recipe is a winner.

Of course I had to try making the chocolate first. Priorities dears.

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti with Coffee. The coffee was just there for props. I haven't had coffee in 13 days. THIRTEEN! Days! And I'm ok. Really. Did I tell you I'm okay?

The dough was sticky and fragile to work with, but incredibly good to eat. I’m a dough/batter-eater. I cannot resist tasting it, unless it is yeasty. It pretty much goes that if the dough tastes good, the baked product will be good, too. So I do intensive testing. With my mouth. Do you? If not, you’re missing out. Well, unless you’re pregnant, then don’t do it if it has raw eggs like this one.

The trick to transferring this dough from the floured counter to the baking sheet is the speedy lift-and-support-entire-length action. It does have the risk of sagging and breaking apart.

Making biscotti and proof that I may have taken Karen DeMasco's"generously floured work surface" too far. It really didn't stick. At all. I mean, how could it?

The hardest part in making these is the baking time. Your kitchen and its surrounding open spaces will be filled with the come-hitherto aroma of brownies baking in the oven, and a hint of something that tickles your nose, trying to let you in on a little secret. You know what it is? Espresso. The book says the cookies will fall flat in taste without it, and I’ll have to agree. No, I don’t even want to try it without!

The Biscotti Council

These biscotti are not too sweet, and would make a perfect companion to coffee or plain milk. Thinking of tea? This is your mate. It’s not too overpowering, even for a light tea.

There are only a few left of this batch, and the generous bag of biscotti I gave my friend for the trip is on the verge of missing the flight, I was told. If that isn’t the best compliment for it, I don’t know what is.

If you’re looking for a biscotti recipe to start you baking, look no further. This newbie approves. And for the seasoned biscotti bakers, this is a worthy addition to consider for your repertoire of old favorites.

For me, honestly, I can’t wait to make more that will last long enough to make it past the front door without being eaten, so I can mail them to friends! I love sending care packages of food, and it almost sounds selfish because I get such sheer pleasure in doing so. :-)

The full recipe can be found online (it’s the 3rd recipe down), and that’s the exact one in the book. I thought I’d just link to it because it’s a long one, plus I didn’t change anything in the recipe.

Happy baking this weekend!

Yumm.

Okay, okay… we’re back! Missed us? :-) We apologize for the unannounced sabbatical. Life just got in the way and whenever we think of updating, boy we just wish the brain could just blog for us on its own. We’re back in business, so to speak, except that I can’t really speak physically because I’ve been stricken with some virus that makes my head heavy, my throat painful and sore, and also makes me sneeze like I’m sneezing for the entire human rice…’r race. Anyway, don’t want to gross you out. To sum it up: things have been busy, guys and gals. We’re so sorry for being MIA and thank you so much for hanging in there and for sending us messages to ask if we’re still alive or something.

Dan and I actually cooked and baked a lot with the intention of putting them up on the site. And they obviously haven’t made it to the site yet. These cookie sandwiches are just one of them. When I’m in AZ, I have the TV on as background noise until noon when I’m working and one of the shows during that time is Martha’s. They actually made these during the show and caught my attention [note: the episode is here if you''d like to watch it]. Dan loves peanut butter and other nut butters so I thought I’d make these for him.

They’re not that fast and easy to make because there are extra steps to prepare the oatmeal for the dough, and the dough itself. The pay off is a kitchen (and in our case, the entire apartment because it’s small) that smells really good from the toasted oatmeal. Oh, and for those with food allergies (e.g. eggs and peanuts), this one is actually eggless!

The original recipe is for peanut butter, but we’ve really been into sunflower butter ever since Dan’s dad gave us jars of the organic one. Love it, love it. They’re less denser than peanut butter so that probably added to the fragility of the final outcome of the cookies. Still worth making, in my opinion. What a lovely tasting treat!!! It’s so good if you keep it in the fridge then enjoy it later on with warm milk. Oh, yummy. Wish I had these right now, because God knows li’l sickie me could use some cookie lovin’.

One more thing, the filling recipe below could easily be used for 24 sandwich cookies. We had a lot of leftover filling. You can keep it in the fridge for your next batch of cookies, but I have to warn you that it hardens because of the butter content so you have to leave it in the counter for a bit to soften before piping again. I actually used the fresh homemade butter for this recipe. Deeeelish!

Okay, I’ll stop talking now and get some rest. Who would have thought I’d be up all night when I’m sick?

On to the recipe: Continue Reading

Let me tell you now that these are by far THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES I’ve ever made and tasted, even better than the full-fat ones. And I really wish I have myself to credit for the recipe, but alas, no. It’s from Cook’s Illustrated Light Recipes. This is the 2nd recipe of the two that I’ve tried from that issue and I’m continued to be impressed with it.

Seriously. Make this. It’s worth the hassle of cooking and straining the dried pitted dates. You read that right. I know it doesn’t sound so palatable now, but trust me on this: You won’t even know it’s there but boy oh boy this tastes magnificent. It’s like the magical switcheroo, which will have you clamoring for more.

The recipe makes 18 big cookies and it only contains 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar. The chewiness is phenomenal, the full chocolate-y and there’s-something-else-so-good taste is something you’ll remember for days and weeks to come.

I just made this again while I’m here in Vancouver. I would have to emphasize the importance of using a really good cookie sheet to get the best results. When I first made it, these chocolate-y mounds came to life on an insulated cookie sheet [we got ours from Crate & Barrel and I highly recommend it!] and they came out PERFECT — as perfect as gourmet cookie store-bought cookies can be. I used regular cookies sheets the second time around and the results weren’t as stellar. It was disappointing. So, please, invest in a good insulated cookie sheet or use your trusty silpats and bake away. You won’t regret it and the cookie lovers in your household will love you more for it.

I’ve taken the liberty to take step-by-step photos for your viewing (and learning/cooking) pleasure.

Go bake ‘em! This is sure to be a hit at your next picnic. Or just enjoy it at home or pack it in your brown bag and make your co-workers jealous.

Here’s the recipe: Continue Reading

Last March, in the midst of my Cinnamon Roll baking frenzy, I picked up a copy of Cook’s Illustrated Light Recipes when I saw the recipe for Guilt-Free Cinnamon Rolls [which I haven't tried, of course]. What I ended up making first from the magazine were the Healthier Oatmeal Cookies, and let me tell you — they wowed me. I can’t help but take a bite…then the next, and another one, and before I knew it I ate 2 cookies already. They’re sweet, chewy and somewhat lighter without sacrificing that great texture with each bite.

To be honest with you, when I was comparing its ingredients with that of my beloved Blueberry Pecan Oaties [I'll share that with you sometime in the future], I didn’t expect much considering that there are only 4 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup of (brown) sugar for 24 cookies. According to the magazine, the brown sugar made them moist — “because of its unique properties, brown sugar holds on to water during the baking process”. If you want to get technical about it, it’s caused by the “invert sugar” (found in brown sugar, but not in white sugar), which is hygroscopic, or pulls water from wherever it can be found.

It contains a cup of old-fashioned rolled oats, which I just love eating for breakfast. I like having something to chew on instead of just gulp down. For cookies, it’s no different — it makes it heartier, and gives it better texture. Yum..munch, munch.

Instead of raisins, I used dried cranberries. Dan and I don’t like raisins, and would rather have dried cranberries or blueberries. I also added nutmeg to the recipe. It’s a must for every oatmeal cookie I make.

I have to tell you, this is the ONLY cookie recipe where the number of cookies I made matched what’s on the recipe. I thought that was pretty cool. [I'm easily amused.]

For those who are curious on how to make balls out of the dough, here’s a pic for you. I use a plastic tablespoon to measure it, then have a teaspoon to scoop and mold with it.

A 15″x20″ insulated cookie sheet would hold 20 cookies. And I really would suggest using one. Or a Silpat baking mat if you have it.

I baked the last 4 cookie dough balls on a regular cookie sheet with parchment paper and they did not spread as much, and it turned out browner. You can see the considerable difference below:

Hope you get to try them. They’re definitely a great alternative to your usual oatmeal cookie recipe. Continue Reading

Things are busy here as it’s tax season, and with mommy and daddy filing their taxes for personal and their respective businesses, posting is a wee bit slower than usual. They’ve also been going out to see friends, which is always a good thing. The cocoa brownies weren’t posted as anticipated– our sincere apologies for those who are waiting.

Last week’s fares here at Gourmeted are:

• Lengua Estofada (Braised Beef Tongue) - A Filipino delicacy of beef tongue cooked in tomato based sauce. A toast to offal lovers.
• Pancake Breakfast with the Help of The Scale – Teddy helps daddy test out the new kitchen scale to make delicious pancakes. It’s a great new addition to our kitchen!
• How We Take Food Photos Part I: Tools and Equipment – The first of many in the series on food photography. Come and join us in our quest to take better photos of food!
• Dorie’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies - Awesome chocolate chip cookies from a recipe that our friend, Patricia, posted about. Yumm!

Things we loved from neighboring food sites:

• Ben’s French Bread – Beautiful homemade bread that we wish we can make someday.
• Michelle’s Pretty Good for Now Buttermilk Biscuits – She’s still on the quest to find The One biscuit recipe, but this looks great to us! If you have a phenomenal biscuit recipe, come on over there and let her know…help a fellow foodie out.
• Elle’s Oven Baked Hooters Style Buffalo Wings – Need I say more? Can’t wait to try this with our Spicy Garlic Sauce

What’s up this week? Take a peek:

• Review of Sauce restaurant
• Part II of How We Take Food Photos: The Grey Card
• Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls

That’s it for now. Have a great week everyone. And happy eating!

When I saw these cookies over at Patricia’s site I knew I had to make them — They called my name.

I have been eyeing the red Chips Ahoy! bag but I couldn’t bring myself to open it. Surely I can make some and they will be better than store-bought, I told myself. So I did.

And they were simply awesome– sweet and chewy, with a slight nutty flavor from the chopped hazelnuts. [The original recipe calls for pecans.]

Having frozen most of the 59 dough balls (recipe said it makes 45), I’ve baked them twice already. They were the perfect size for me — not too small, and not too big that I get full just from looking at them. For the baking times, try 8 minutes first. Ten minutes in our oven made it too crunchy once it cools, like above.

Dorie makes good cookies. C’mon, give it a try. You know you want it this weekend! The recipe follows as usual: Continue Reading

We hope you’re all having a good Sunday. It’s bright, and warm and sunny here at our end.

If you’ve missed something, here’s a recap of what we had this week:

• Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie – Lick-the-dish-clean good decadent chocolate pie.
• Cinnamon Rolls I – No-Rise Dough) - Joy’s first attempt at making homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze
• Cinnamon Rolls II — Success! – The best payoff for not giving up…amazing rolls.
• Comfort Beef Stew – Winter’s last sip.
• Food Gossip Meme: He Says, She Says
• Linguine with Beef and Mushroom Sauce – The pasta that earned a nice compliment from Dan.
• Free Italian cookbook - Free cookbook for download until March 31st.

Also, I mentioned last week that we’ll be featuring recipes that we like, admire, and want to bookmark for future reference. It’s easier than trying to remember where to get them when we need the recipe. Go have a look at these delicious creations:

• Katy’s Fig and Goat Cheese Canapes – Easy to make snack that’s promisingly decadent.
• Pam’s Mom’s Clam Chowder – Could probably be the recipe that would finally get us to cook homemade clam chowder.
• Cheese Puff’s Water Fried Buns — Tender buns that look absolutely amazing and delicious
• Patricia’s Dorie’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies — Just look at the those cookies!
• Dhanggit’s French Bread — Beautiful homemade bread.

A peek at this week’s ‘menu’ at Gourmeted:

• Cocoa Brownies

• Beef Stir-Fry
  

• Lengua Estofada (Braised Beef Tongue)

• We’re kicking off the series on How We Take Food Photos - from discussing the basic equipment, setting up your camera for taking step-by-step photos, to dealing with kitchen and dining table lighting, and more! A few people have asked about how we do things here, so we’re going to do a continuous series on food photography, and hopefully we can all learn from each other.