Thursday, July 13, 2006

Coffee and Memes and the Java and Me...

A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup...ahhh!

Memes are perfect for coffee hour - a creamy café au lait, a crisp wedge of biscotti, and just enough time for a quick chat full of extraneous information.

Like a valentine from a crush in my glorified kindergarten shoebox, I got tagged for the 5 Things Meme by Helios over at Tales from a Veggie Kitchen. So now, without further ado, the 5 Things Meme...and a recipe for some delicious Pistachio Biscotti.


5 Things in My Freezer


5 Things in My Closet

  • A buckwheat pillow
  • A satin prom dress I bought on sale and never wore
  • A skirt I got and silk-screened at the Swaporamarama (and if you look carefully, I think you can see the back of my head in the background of this video)
  • A polyester red cowboy shirt I got at the dollar store years ago and don't throw away because I can always envision a scenario in which I might need it
  • One of those jangly belly-dancer things


5 Things on My Bookshelf

5 Things in My Purse

  • A wad of receipts
  • Burt's Bees lip shimmer in "nutmeg"
  • A cloth grocery bag
  • A sudoku torn out of the newspaper
  • Little gribbly bits


Pistachio Biscotti

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½ cups shelled unsalted pistachio nuts (about 6.5oz)
2 large eggs
¼ cup honey
¼ cup high-quality olive oil Grated zest of 1 large navel orange

(Note: If you can only find salted nuts, rinse them in a sieve under cold running water and dry thoroughly before use.)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in pistachios and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, olive oil, and zest. Use a fork to stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring until the dough clumps together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press the dough together. Divide in half. With lightly floured hands, gently shape each half into a log 13-14 inches long. Carefully transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, placing them at least 3 inches apart. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until logs are well risen and firm. Set the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool the logs completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Peel away the parchment paper and transfer the logs to a cutting surface. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs on the diagonal into half-inch slices. Line the baking sheet with clean parchment paper and place the biscotti, standing up, on the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until dry. Set the baking sheet on a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Yields about 35 biscotti.

This recipe is brought to you from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. For more of Ms. Boyle's beautiful recipes incarnate, visit Ivonne at Creampuffs in Venice; she introduced me to this marvelous cookbook.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahh, biscotti, I do love you with coffee. I do try to limit my biscotti making to Christmas time but gosh blogging is changing my world. Beautiful.
Sweet meme.

Heather said...

Yay! Thanks for playing! And I agree, the Good Cookie is a great cookbook. Did you know she just came out with a cake cookbook? I'm trying to resist.....but it might be futile.

Anonymous said...

I knew when I saw that you were tagged for a meme (in last post comments) that it was going to be good. I mean, everyone has gribbly bits in the bottom of their purse, but who else would admit it! I remember a lovely tea party that you had for your friends back in Junior High, we made some lovely things and biscotti topped the list. One of the simple pleasures in life...to serve yourself a nice cup fresh coffee with a biscotti on the side and a good book in hand. (I bought Prodigal Summer today.)

ThursdayNext said...

my armenian heart be still with this pistachio biscotti! i am now craving it with my soorj (armenian coffee, which is just like greek coffee - strong, sludgey, and super).Thank you for the recipe, Kate!

Anonymous said...

So what do you think the chances are of another person having all things Barbara Kingsolver, nutmeg shimmer Burt's Bees, and Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet stashed in all the same places? Are we related? I have a crazy fancy dress I bought on sale and never wore too, but I recently gave it to my little sister, hoping she'd find an occasion to wear it.

The biscotti sounds fab!

Kate Croft said...

tanna - my vote is, biscotti whenever it's cool enough (in an air-conditioned room, even) to contemplate a hot cup of coffee. yay!

helios - cake book?!?! aw man. i must have it.

mom - i'm so excited you got prodigal summer! fun beach read =) maybe when i'm home we can make biscotti together...

amy - you know what i want it with? a big mug of this chai from the kitchen (apartment therapy): http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/beverage/recipe-iced-chai-010487. But your armenian coffee sounds delicious, too!

jennifer - clearly, we're twins separated at birth. i mean, nutmeg?! that's just too much of a coincidence. if not twins, then certainly destined to be good friends. =)

Amelia PS said...

cool meme confessions :)

Ah biscotti. I take mine with tea.
I make mine with almonds, lemon zest and fennel seeds. and over the holidays cranberry and orange zest.