Lemon Cranberry Pecan Biscotti

Yeah, I had a major biscotti phase...and I still do!

Well, I did a lot of searching around in cookbooks and online for a recipe that I liked. Took a while and I looked for similarities in the recipes. I learned a few things though, which is always really good. So there are three kinds of biscotti base dough substance recipes: whole eggs only, egg and butter, or egg white only.

I happened to have my American's Test Kitchen book on hand and one major difference would be texture and the other is taste. Hard, light, with a pleasant snap and crunch (but not hard enough to break a tooth...unless you're careless) and has a flavor that improves with time after baking; lasts longer than the ones made with butter. Softer and more fragrant aroma with a nice cruch not as prominent as the whole egg one though; loses flavor over time. Break a tooth hard...forgot what it said about flavor though, but I imagine that it wouldn't be as strong as the other two.

In the end, I opted to make the ones that called for whole eggs. Reasons? I'm a busy college student that doesn't want anything to go rancid over time, hehe. I'm not a major fan of butter either and I don't like the residue it leaves on the fingers and lips.

I actually made two by the book recipe biscottis to test out how to make biscottis, and it took a while but I think I got the hang of it by the 3rd or 4th time I tried it. I made an orange honey, a chocolate pistachio, and pecan cranberry; I know, thats three. What did I learn? 1. Ones without any filling are harder to handle and shape and probably cook faster, 2. chocolate pieces don't improve the texture of a whole egg biscotti because it interferes with the crunch factor, 3. pecans, cranberries, and lemon are the best combo of ingredients I have ever tasted. Note: anytime I mention a citrus fruit, I'm refering to the zest of it. Most recipes called for some kind of zest, either lemon or orange.

Result of all this experimentation? Developing a really great Lemon Pecan Cranberry biscotti with a nice bite and flavor that grows over the couple days after you make them. They are great with a beverage because the hardness stands up to soaking, and may be better for those who don't like such hard cookies.

Lemon Scented Cranberry Pecan Biscotti

• 2 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries (Craisens are good)
• 1 cup of chopped and toasted pecans
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 medium lemon (or large if you really want)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set aside (second one is for later).

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat eggs with whisk in a mixter, or by hand, until relatively broken down. Add granulated sugar and beat until combined and just dissolved. Add zest and vanilla extract and mix again until everything is well combined.

4. Remove bowl from mixer. Add flour mixture in third portions. Mix each third portion into wet mixture until semi-combined and then add the next. When last third of dry mixture in almost combined add cranberries and pecans. Stir until just well combined.

5. Devide the batter in two and shape each portion into 12"x2" logs. Wetting your hands slightly makes this easier because the batter is a little sticky.

6. Place in oven on middle rack and bake for 20~25 minutes, or until pale golden and cracked on top. Rotate baking sheet halfway through baking time for even browning.

7. Turn oven down to 275 F. Remove and cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then remove and cool for another 10 or 15 minutes. The longer it is cooled the easier it will be to slice without messing up the center too much. Use a serrated knife or bread knife and cut at an angle 1/4" slices. Lay the slices flat on parchmented baking sheets and return to oven on upper 1/3rd and lower 1/3rd of oven to bake for 15 minutes. After this, remove and turn the slices over to toast the other side. Return to oven for 15 more minutes or until biscotti is dry. The color should still be pale or the color they looked when they were first sliced. The idea is to dry them out, not brown.

8. Cool on cooling rack and make sure it is completely cooled before putting them into a container or packaging of any kind. From what I understand, they last a few weeks in an airtight container, if they last that long.

White Mushroom Spaghetti

This was my first attempt at making a pasta dish that didn't have any tomato related ingredient in the sauce. It sauce pretty much consisted of white mushrooms, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, oil, and butter. It's a shame I'm not old enough to get some white wine, it would have been perfect.

The mushrooms looked amazing so I decided it would be a good idea to get some. Sorry, but I forgot to take pictures of them before I sliced, diced, and cooked them.

White Mushroom Pasta:

12 oz. of White Mushrooms, about (or more if you like)

5 cloves of garlic, minced

Quarter of a small-medium onion, diced

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp of Olive Oil (or any other kind you have)

4 tbsp of butter

1 tsp, or more, of salt (to taste)

1/2 pack of regular length spaghetti, roughly

Black pepper (optional/to taste)

Basil, roughly chopped (optional)

Rinse and wash the mushrooms under cold running water. And set aside to dry, or you can pat dry. Then slice them into thin, approx. 2-3mm, even slices. Set aside. (The slicing can all be done while you wait for the water to boil)

Bring a large, covered, pot of water to boil. Once boiling, uncover and throw in the dried spaghetti. Stir in and let cook as package directs. Stir occasionally.

While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large, raised sides, pan. When heated, cook garlic for about 30 secs or until fragrant on medium-high heat, then throw in the onions and oregano and cook until browned and softened slightly, maybe about 3 minutes on medium-high heat.

Once onions are browned and softened, throw in the sliced mushrooms. Saute for a a minute or two and then cover, turn heat to medium, and let the mushrooms release their moisture. After about 5-7 minutes, check and stir. They should have lost a lot of their opaqueness. Now uncover, turn heat back to medium-high, add salt, and saute untill some moisture has evaporated, but not completely. Add the butter and stir in until all melted. Lower heat to medium-low.

At this point the pasta should be done. Drain and add pasta to the sauce. Mix well until the pasta is well coated. Add basil, and pepper (if using). Serve immediately.

Serves ~4

Enjoy!

"Rustic" Pumpkin Pie: Avoiding Textbooks

So~ I didn't want to study today, and now I'm behind again...but it was worth it! I decided to bake Pumpkin Pie! I experimented with the recipe I looked up too...very little variation, I just used 2 cans of Carnation's 5 oz. evaporated milk instead of a 12oz. can because last time I did that I had extra filling...I don't like to have extra filling...yes. It would have been such a waste, right?

I also only used 1 tsp. of Pumpkin Pie Spice, and added 1 tsp of fresh grated ginger. Yummy! It turned out nice! I also added only 2 large eggs instead of 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg. All good.

For some reason though, the pie surface cracked, a lot. Therefore! I call it "rustic". Isn't it great how one word fixes everything?

3/4 cup of Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tsp. Freshly Grated Ginger

2 Large Eggs

2 (5 oz.) cans of Evaporated Milk

1 (15 oz.) can of Usweetened Pumpkin

1 Pre-made Deep Dish Pie Crust, like Pillsbury

1. Preheat oven to 450F degrees


2. Prepare a rack on the lower shelf of the oven and put a baking sheet on this lower level.


3. Mix/Whisk/Blend Brown Sugar through Evaporated Milk together in a bowl. Add Pumpkin and mix till well combined.


4. Pour into Pie Crust, place in oven on top of a baking sheet (for cleanliness and in case of spills. I would put the crust on the baking sheet in the oven BEFORE pouring the mixture in, makes it easier since you don't have to pick it up and balance the liquid inside on the way to the oven).


5. Bake at 450F for about 10 minutes. Rotate. Turn temperature to 350F degrees and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

I have a feeling that if I baked it at 325 instead of 350 the pie would'nt have cracked so much...but oh well, it tasted good to me so I don't really care, haha.

Finally, Something New: Chili

Man, it has definitely been a while since I last posted.

So~ I managed to drag my butt out of bed a few saturdays ago to go to the farmers market near my apartment complex and I bought an interesting new chili. BUT, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...so I need to do that at some point later on. Wait for it!~

Well, I guess it isn't that new or interesting for someone thats eaten a sweet white pepper before, but it was interesting to me! I forgot the exact name of this particular chili pepper, but it was really sweet! I mean, I just licked a piece of the pepper just to taste it and I could taste the full impact of sweetness! But I forgot about how sweet the peppers were and I added just a little too much honey, hehe. Go figure.

Tomatoes were getting a bit irritating to buy because I thought a lot of the prices were a bit expensive, but I guess it's worth it for fresh tomatoes. I saw a stand selling heirlooms for about $3.50 lb but I didn't have enough time or money get it that weekend. Next weekend for sure! The tomatoes I finally settled on were really sweet too. A shame that most all of them went into making the chili. I would have eaten them all raw, haha.

So, I used a combination of: sweet white peppers, orange bell peppers, a jalapeno (my sister can't really handle too much heat) and some Anaheim peppers. I was going to add Pasilla but the ones I had in the fridge kinda went south and I didn't see it until I got back from the market. Poo~

Spices: Chili powder, Smoked paprika, Cumin

Canned: White and Dark Kidney Beans, Tomato Paste

Actually Cooked Something

These last few weeks...well, this entire month really has been hell. I don't think I have actually cooked anything from scratch in the last 2 weeks! I either went out to eat something with my sister or just ate some kind of instant/simple thing, like cereal. From what I can remember during this time I think the only color I saw on my plate, when I ate at home, was beige or white: cereal, grain foods, milk/dairy products, instant noodles (yep, the college student's staple food), an egg here and there.

However, I did finally manage to scrape some time out of life to cook something today! Sauteed Napa with Dried Shrimp and Garlic.

Mother's Day: Hunting Down a Cake

Well, this is a bit late, but who cares ^^~

So for mother's day my sister and I decided to buy a cake for our mom. Problem was that my sister went out to buy the cake about an hour before our mom was arriving at our place. What made it a worse was that she had to go to a few places before she found a Taro cake, which my mom had said she liked...I don't remember when she said it but it resonates with me so...yes. The awkward part of this whole thing was that my mom got to our place before my sister got back, so it was difficult to dodge the question, "Where is your sister?". Esp. difficult to explain when my mom knows that she usually wakes up at 1pm on a weekend and hardly leaves the apartment and at that time it was about 10am.

I would have made one myself if I had the resources and, most importantly, the experience for it...but this is good to！~

Anyway~ Pictures of cake!

Cake tasted good. Very rich in Taro flavor ^_^~ And, my mom liked it! Yey~

No Frosting Necessary

I don't understand why people would want to frost the hell out of a perfectly good cake. I mean, if the cake itself is good, they why do it? And if you do, why make it so thick? I had a cake once that had saccharine frosting that was layered on so thick that my head felt like it was going to implode from all my blood vessels constricting.

That's my rant for the day I guess. Anyway, on to the main point. I finally bought a cake pan; a 9" Wilton round cake pan. It took me forever to decide to actually buy one and then after that it took another eon for me to select a particular brand. Therefore, I decided to buy the Wilton nonstick 9" round, since they come with lovely handles for easy manipulation. I only bought 1 though since at that point I still wasn't sure if it would be a good choice or not, and about $5-$6, it was worth a risk. When I finally used it to bake a cake, it worked perfectly. It browns the bottom and edges a dark brown, which has great flavor and a firmer, almost crisp, crust. The handles made turning during baking and handling overall a lot easier too. Good surface. With a light run around the sides with a spreader, the cake almost seemed to fall out of the pan.


On to the recipe itself. I used and adjusted a basic One-Bowl Chocolate Cake from Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book; however, I didn't do it all in one bowl. I just kinda did mine in steps since I don't have an electric mixer. If I did I might have done it all in one bowl...but ya~

For this recipe I had to buy some cocoa powder, so I settled for Dutch processed. The original recipe I followed only called for milk, so I used 2% milk and I added some sour cream, which is supposed to add tenderness (that line sounds kinda weird, doesn't it?). Another thing was that the cake came with a Rocky Road Frosting, which I decided not to try since I don't really like frosting on my cake. Turned out I was right in doing this because it needed no frosting what so ever. It was moist, just sweet enough, and perfect just by itself.


I believe a good cake can hold it's own~ Though it is true frosting makes it more presentation quality. In those cases, I would make a special, mildly sweet, and frost on only a thin layer.

Makes one 9" round layer

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch processed makes for a darker, less red, cake)
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 baking soda (originally: 1/4 tsp)
  
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/2 + 1/8 cup of (2%) milk, room temp
  
• Enough (light) sour cream to make milk total: 3/4 cup (a little over 1 tbsp)
  
• 1/4 cup butter, room temp, and cut into 8 cubes/pieces (originally: margarine)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, room temp
  

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Spray a 9" round cake pan with cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment, spray bottom again, and lightly flour pan. Set aside. (I just spray it all once, put the parchment on the bottom, touch it till it gets oil all over the one side, and then flip it around and press in against the pan).
   
3. Use scoop and level method (scoop out an overfilled amount of flour and level) and to measure out one cup of flour. Mix by first stirring flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in a bowl, then sift 1-2x, using another bowl between transfers. Set aside
   
4. In another bowl (if you used another bowl when you were sifting the dry ingredients back and forth, use the empty one you have after step 3) mix the eggs, vanilla, milk, and sour cream together until well blended/mixed. Set aside
5. Using a whisk, add 2 cubes of butter into the dry ingredients at a time and mix by pressing the butter into the dry ingredients until all the butter is distributed in the dry ingredients and are about the size of small rocks. Add half of the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, whisk rather vigorously until the dry ingredients are all incorporated (~20-30 seconds). Then, mix in the rest of the wet mixture until a smooth batter forms. Scrap the bowl down and mix w/ just a few more turns.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Even out the batter and put bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (Remember to turn the cake around 1/2 way through baking, so as to ensure even cooking).
   

In the end, I think you can use any method you want to mix this cake up, providing you are using some type of cake making method. I hope this works out well for everyone who decides to try it. if you really wanted to, you could even frost it...if you want to. I personally feel its perfect the way it is ^_^. Time to study for my Calc and Chem midterm!...crap~