BitterSweet

Don’t make lemon biscotti. Come on now, why would I do something as logical as that? Life’s always going to be giving you lemons, so why should I busy myself trying to use them all up, when I don’t even want life’s god damn lemons?? Erm… So the recipe I decided to mutliate this time from VegWeb was originally a lemon biscotti, but… Well… To be perfectly frank? I only chose it because I couldn’t find anything else, and it had good ratings. I wanted something crunchy and nutty, and although I had never made biscotti before, what was to stop me from multilating yet another innocent cookie?

To make a long story short, as you can see, it all worked out in the end, but not without its fun little dramas along the way. Oh, and I appoligize for this terrible shot; The plate was a really busy birthday-themed confetti extravaganza, and all the other pictures I took of the finished product were blurry. Just my luck, huh?

Okay, so I first made the obvious substitution of almond extract for the lemon juice, and near the end I added in about 1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds. While I was mixing the dough, however, it just seemed so dry… Now I know it’s a dry dough by nature, but we’re talking wet sand here. Maybe I had a brain fart when it came to adding in margarine… Like using 1/4 cup instead of 1/4 pound… That’s probably it, because I’m too lazy to think about measurements in weight most of the time. So I ended up pouring in nearly 1/4 cup of additional oil… Yikes! It came together nicely though, so I still was optimistic.

I dumped out the contents of the mixer and formed a very lovely little biscotti loaf ontop of my floured baking sheet. This was my favorite part – it had such a smooth, creamy complexion, studded with dark and toasty almonds… Mmm! If only I could have served it raw!

…But that would have been a bit too weird, even for me. So into heat it went… And remained, for an extra 10 – 20 minutes. For some reason, it took its precious time baking and took nearly twice as long in the end as I had thought I would have to sacrifice to watch it.

Still in brick-form, it waited to be sliced. As you can see, the flour around it seems to have absorbed some of the extra oils that seeped out as it cooked… Worried that it was going to be underbaked, I continued to nuke the biscotti after slicing, turning, and turning yet again. The cookies then ended up rather large, so I cut those in half after they were completely cooled [And crispy!]

To make them more fun to dip into a cup of coffee or tea, I topped them with a thin zig-zag of plain confectioner’s sugar glaze, and upped the sweetness a touch. My mother seemed to enjoy them, but I was a bit unimpressed. The whole concept of biscotti is really interesting to me, so I will undoubtedly try a different method in the future… Maybe I should have just gone with lemon!

I am a firm believer that there is no better all-purpose recipe than a hearty, tried and true banana bread for just about any occasion. Graduation? Engagement? Funeral? Trust me, banana bread always fits the bill. In this case, it was a baby shower that prompted the appearance of this delicious loaf. Soft and sweet with a fine crumb, but not dense and cake like, it can even be consumed for any time of the day as well! Breakfast, dessert, with or without icing, it’s still the treat you’ll reach for.

Mine started with a very simple recipe originating from VegWeb, but you should all know by now that I just can’t leave well enough alone, so I made a couple of my own adaptations, which I’ll include for any of those curious. Yes, you may notice mine is less healthy. I’ll admit it, I made it more of an indulgence, even adding in chocolate instead of the reccomended nuts [Which could still make an excellent addition as well], but I figured that an omnivorous pregnant woman would prefer a better flavor and texture over saving a few calories. I didn’t actually have any whole wheat pastry flour anyways, and I didn’t want it to become overly dense and vertically challenged.

I must say, it did rise quite beautifully in the oven, and the whole kitchen smelled amazing. It took all the restraint I could muster not to tear into this thing as soon as it slid out from the pan. The good news is that it freezes wonderfully once covered in plastic wrap, reheating like it was baked that day. Even better yet is if you were to throw a slice in the toaster, adding an extra crispy edge.

There are so many words, and yet none are quite adequit to describe such a bread. I’m afraid my mouth will now be occupied to appreciate everything that words can’t say about such a loaf, so you’ll just have to bake up your own and find out for yourself.