Holidaze

White Fruit Cake

S.G. Widdoes

1 lb sugar (2 cups)
1/2 lb butter
1 lb flour (4 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb seeded white raisins
1 lb blanched almonds
1/2 lb citron
1/2 lb red cherries
1 large coconut, grated
1/2 lb crystalized pineapple
1/2 lb crystallized orange peel
1/2 lb crystallized lemon peel
8 egg whites

Directions

Cream butter. Add sugar gradually.
Sift baking powder and salt with half of the flour. Add alternately with liquid.
Add remaining flour to sliced or chopped fruits and nuts.
Stir floured fruit into cake mix.
Fold in beaten egg whites.
Bake in loaf tins or round angel food pan lined with heavily oiled paper. (brown paper bag oiled and floured.)

Bake at 250°F for 2 1/2 hours.

Easter 2019

Another day of fun times and fun food! We started off with drinks and appetizers. Naturally.

Appetizers:

Uncle Rudy's Easter Pie

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp

Date and Pecan Pesto with Homemade Ricotta

Along with Brie, Hummus, chips an pitas...

And then we moved on to the Main Event:

Ham with Apricot Mustard Glaze

Baked Cod with Salsa Verde

Roasted Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon

Roasted Beets

Lentil Salad

Bean Salad

5-Grain Salad

Hot Cross Buns

And the Desserts:

Limoncello Tiramisù

Chocolate Nests

Pastina Pie

Anise Biscotti and Pistachio Biscotti

Lots of food, fun, and laughter.

The highlights - other than the company - were the desserts... They're the things we don't eat very often, anymore. The Pastina Pie and the Limoncello Tiramisù were excellent - and the biscotti were perfection.

The Hot Cross Buns were another surprise. I had never made them before and they were surprisingly good - they're going to make good ham sandwiches for lunch.

All in all, a very successful day!

by Tim Dineen

'Twas The Night Before Christmas ...

... and more Ghosts of Christmases past have surfaced.

Coming from a large family, Christmas was anything but quiet. When it was merely the six kids, it was chaos and pandemonium. Imagine six kids attacking the tree looking for gifts with their name on it. A finite amount of space didn't stop us. At some point the parents would try to take charge and regulate things, a bit. It never lasted for long and only quieted down when the last gift was opened and the look of is that it?!? was shared by us all as we were surrounded by piles of boxes, paper, and bows.

One of my fond pyromaniac memories was burning all of the wrapping paper in the fireplace. Back in the day, anything burnable went into the fireplace - never the trash - and we had a fire pretty much every night. The colors of the flames when different colored papers were burning was better than a Presto Log!Naturally, we'd over-pack it and the roaring flames would start licking the outside of the grate, reaching up towards the stockings. I remember the roaring noise it made and the heat felt across the room. Funny that I don't remember ever being told not to start a fire - only to be careful and don't burn down the house. Of course, these are the same parents who let me walk down to the corner Safeway store along 19th Avenue when I was a mere 4 years old. I think we grew up differently, back then - and that's probably not a bad thing.

One of my more fun memories is the one year my mother got so plastered she ended up going to bed before dinner was even finished cooking. My mom was not a big drinker and there really are only two times in my life I saw her totally over-the-top.

I was maybe 15 or so and the older folks started Christmas morning drinking a cross between a Brandy Alexander and a Grasshopper - brandy, crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and heavy cream - with Christmas Brunch. At some point it became brandy in a snifter - that just kept getting filled. She was just sipping along, never knowing or realizing how much she was drinking. And then she went down for the count. I remember finishing the gravy and getting the meal on the table while she was led off to bed - waking the following day vowing to never drink, again.

My first Christmas away from home was in 1972. I spent it in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Nothing says Peace on Earth quite like being on an aircraft carrier in the middle of a war zone. On a side note... we were supposed to get the Bob Hope Christmas Show on our boat, but at the last minute, they moved it to the USS Enterprise - that had just arrived on station. They were the big, fancy, new nuclear ship and we were passé. They got Jill St. John. We got the New Christy Minstrels. Sometimes life really isn't fair.

Back home, the family grew, adding spouses, significant others, more kids, and grandkids. It only got louder and more chaotic. And more fun.

No one worried about chairs. You pulled up a piece of floor and sat. Or... did conga lines through the house...

Naturally, copious amounts of alcohol have never been a party to our parties... Much. This was the last time all six of us were together at Christmas - our house in San Leandro in 2000.

There's four of the thirteen grandkids missing, here, and, today, there's an additional fifteen or so, from them - mergers and acquisitions.

From that chaos we went to relative civility. Less kids and less chaos.

But still a lot of fun. And now there are a couple more little ones to watch with delight.

But even that fun has come to an end with Nonna no longer traveling the 90 miles north. It's a quiet dinner for two celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fish with a huge pot of Crab Cioppino, instead of the feast that Tom makes.

I definitely do miss that spread.

But... circumstances change and you have to adapt. We adapted by making Cioppino.

Every time I make this I make it just slightly different - more peppers, less peppers, with mussels, without mussels, lots of anchovies, just a few anchovies. This is readily adaptable to what you have and what you like.

Crab Cioppino

1 large onion, chopped

1 bulb fennel, chopped

2 red bell peppers, chopped

2 green bell peppers, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 bottle good Chianti

4 cups clam juice

1 No 10 can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes

3 lbs dungeness crab legs and claws

1 lb shrimp

24 clams

24 mussels

1 lb Alaskan cod cut into chunks

1/2 lb calamari

1 lb scallops

1 jar anchovies

2 tsp red pepper flakes – more or less, to taste

Greek oregano - we use our own we grow and dry

Salt & Pepper

Get a large pot.

Saute onion, fennel, bell peppers, and garlic in olive oil until vegetables are quite wilted and beginning to get tender. Stir in the anchovies and red pepper flakes and cook until anchovies dissolve.

Add one bottle red wine – I use a really good chianti – and bring to a boil. Simmer about 10 minutes and add the clam juice.

Add the canned tomatoes, breaking them up as you add them.

Add a hefty teaspoon of Greek oregano, a hefty pinch of salt and a hefty pinch of black pepper. Bring to a boil, and then simmer about 30 minutes.

At this point you can turn off the heat and save it for later or bring it to a boil and carry on… My personal preference is to make it in the afternoon, bring it to a boil, and then and let it simmer a bit. About 30 minutes before adding the seafood, I bring it back to a boil.

In about 5 minute increments,

Add the dungeness crab.

Add the clams and mussels.

Add the cod chunks.

Add the shrimp.

Add the scallops.

Finally, add the calamari.

From start to finish on adding and cooking the fish should be about 20 minutes.

Taste for seasoning and add more red chile flakes or hot sauce, as desired. it should have a bit of a kick.

Ladle into large bowls – discarding any unopened clams – and serve with crusty bread.

Forget the napkins. Have several kitchen towels available. This is one messy meal as half of it is eaten with your fingers.

It came out perfect. really perfect. Really rich without being overly filling. And it had the perfect amount of spice.

This really is something everyone should make at least once. It is ridiculously easy and definitely feeds a crowd.

I had planned a roast for tomorrow night, but we're going to do this, again. It was too good not to!

by Tim Dineen

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Christmas, 1956 was the year I saw Santa Claus. In our living room!

We were living on 19th Avenue in San Francisco – Mike, Judy, and me. Mom was pregnant with Arlene and Eileen. Phoebe wasn’t yet a twinkle in Pop’s eye.

Mike and I shared the front bedroom that was right next to the living room – and right above the entry way where we’re standing in the picture. This is also the house where Mike buried me up to my neck in the backyard a few months after this picture was taken – but that’s another story for another time. This is about Santa.

I was four years old when we live on 19th Avenue, but seeing Santa here isn’t my first real memory. One of my first memories is our neighbors Mike and Tim – much older than us – climbing out a window when we lived in the projects on Connecticut Street in 1953.

And I vaguely remember this picture from 1953 at Brock’s Department Store in Bakersfield where my grandfather worked.

And I definitely remember Christmas 1954 – also in Bakersfield at grandma and grandpa’s. Those trikes were way cool.

Pop had been accepted into the San Francisco Fire Department in July of 1954. We moved from the projects and were living in an upper flat on 18th and Balboa. This is the house where we had a miserable downstairs neighbor who constantly complained about us making noise and where Judy fell down the stairs – hitting every one of them as my mom went screaming down the stairs after her.

There was plenty of drama with three kids in the family. The folks were pretty much inured to it by the sixth.

But it was 1956 that will always stand out. With pop still a relatively new kid in the Fire Department, our Christmas trips to Bakersfield took a back seat to his schedule. Christmas 1956 saw us at home.

Christmas Eve was the typical chaos of a family of three kids and a dog the night before Christmas. Constant reminders to be good, stop fighting, Santa is watching, and finally, Santa won’t come if you’re not in bed.

It didn’t take much convincing to get me to go to bed – but actually falling asleep was a different matter. The excitement of Santa coming was almost too much to bear. At some point I must have fallen asleep because I remember waking with a start because I heard a noise in the living room. The house was otherwise quiet with light filtering in from the street lamps out front. I got out of bed, entered the hallway, and then stepped into the living room. There, right in front of me – with his huge bag of gifts – was Santa!

Before I could say a word, he smiled and put his finger to his lips for me to be quiet. With his other hand, he motioned me back to bed.

I was too full of awe and surprise to do anything but comply. Feeling almost like I was floating, I went right back to bed and fell immediately to sleep.

The next morning I awoke to a mountain of presents. We didn’t get tons of toys back in those days – more clothes and things we needed. My mom made us pajamas every year – two sizes too big so we could grow into them – not out of them. But we were definitely not deprived children – there were plenty of games, bikes, skates – things to keep us outside or reasonably quiet inside. I don’t really remember any gifts from that year. I just remember seeing Santa in my living room.

Of course I told mom and pop and everyone else that I had seen Santa, and it was greeted with the indulgent that’s nice, dear comments only an adult could muster.

And 62 years later, it is usually met with the same skepticism. Yet, to this day, it’s still one of the most vivid recollections I have of childhood.

And, as told to Virginia O’Hanlon in The Sun, it must be so.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

No Santa?!? Not at our house!

by Tim Dineen

The Year of the Biscotti

Sometime last Spring, we were talking about Christmas Cookies. I know... Spring and Christmas don't necessarily go together in most households, but... welcome to ours.

I think we had just made a batch of biscotti and thought about how many different variations on a theme there actually were. And then we had one of those aha moments - what if we just made biscotti for Christmas?!? A dozen different varieties. We could go crazy and have fun!

And then it became December and that's exactly what we have done - except we've made more than a dozen different varieties.

The basic recipe starts with Uncle Rudy. It's a classic Italian anise biscotti that is as much sheer simplicity as it is totally delicious. Over the years, we have taken that basic formula and played with it to come up with a lot of variations - but never quite as involved as we have done this year!

The year of the Biscotti, indeed!

First, we have:

Butter Rum Biscotti

A simple biscotti with Heath toffee chips pieces and Meyers rum.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp Meyers Rum

8 oz Heath Toffee Chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add rum and toffee chips.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

The next biscotti is one Victor has thought about forever - and finally made - and I am one happy camper!

Cannoli Biscotti

The classic cannoli flavors in a cookie - how could it possibly be bad?!?

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup ricotta

1 tbsp candied orange peel

1 tbsp candied citron

1 tbsp candied lemon peel

1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1/2 cup chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add ricotta and mix. Add candied fruit, cherries, and chopped chocolate.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

We're still in Italy for our next biscotti - flavored with Fior di Cedro! We brought it back from one of our Italy trips.

Cedro / Citron Biscotti

Citron in liquid and candied form along with a few almonds for crunch.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp Fior di Cedro

3 tbsp candied citron

1 cup blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add fior di cedro, citron, and almonds.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

This once came about because of these ridiculous cherries from Trader Joe's. There is nothing subtle about this cookie!

Chocolate Amarena Cherry Biscotti

Cherries and chocolate - along with some Kirsch - make for a hellava biscotti.

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp espresso powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp Kirsch

1 jar amarena cherries, drained and chopped, syrup reserved

2 tbsp reserved cherry syrup

6 oz chocolate chips

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add cherries, cherry juice, kirsch, and chocolate chips. Stir in flour.

Divide dough in half. Shape into logs. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

And then there's one we've made before - but different, this time around. First time was using Peppermint Bark. This one uses peppermint candy and peppermint extract. And lots of chocolate, of course!

Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

We added brandy, but a peppermint schnapps would be really good, too!

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp brandy

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups chopped peppermint candies

6 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add brandy, peppermint extract, peppermint candy, and chocolate chips.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

Staying with the Chocolate theme for a moment, we thought about what went with Sambuca. Coffee, of course, is classic - and chocolate, just because!

Chocolate Sambuca Biscotti

And if coffee and chocolate weren't enough, a cup of walnuts add some crunch! Add more espresso powder if you want a more pronounced coffee flavor.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp espresso powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp Sambuca

1 cup walnut pieces

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add sambuca and walnuts. Stir in flour.

Divide dough in half. Shape into logs. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

This one came about because we were thinking about classic Christmas flavors. Gingerbread came to mind and a biscotti was born!

Gingerbread Biscotti

All of the classic flavors in a biscotti. This one will get a powdered sugar dusting.

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp mace

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch salt

1 stick butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugars and butter. Add molasses. Add eggs one at a time.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

This is a biscotti flavor we've made before, but in a slightly different form. It's a classic.

Orange Macadamia Biscotti

This will work with Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or even Triple Sec. It will be dipped in orange chocolate.

2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 stick butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp Grand Marnier
3 tbsp candied orange peel
1 6 oz Macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
Orange chocolate for dipping, optional

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add Grand Marnier, candied orange, and macadamia nuts.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for about 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

This is the biscotti that really sent us off on a culinary adventure. It was a little tourist bottle of pistachio creme liqueur we picked up in Italy that sparked several bottlings of liqueurs and batches of biscotti.

Pistachio Biscotti

Pennsylvania doesn't sell pistachio cream liqueur but it is readily available elsewhere. Or... do like we do and make your own!

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cube (stick) butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp cream of pistachio liqueur – or pistachio liqueur

8 oz pistachios, roasted – unsalted

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and pistachio cream. Stir in flour. Stir in pistachios.

Divide dough in half. Shape into logs. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

Pistachio Cream Liqueur

8 oz pistachios, roasted and coarsely chopped

750ml Everclear or 100 proof vodka

1 1/2 qts whole milk

3 lbs sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Pour alcohol over pistachios and let sit for a week to infuse. Shake or stir now and again.

On day 7… Bring sugar and milk to a boil and simmer until sugar is dissolved and mixture gets syrupy – about 10 or 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Strain pistachio alcohol through several layers of cheesecloth. Discard pistachios.

Mix cooled milk syrup with liquor. Add vanilla.

It’s done.

The liqueur itself tastes pretty good. Over ice it would make a nice martini of sorts…

We thought a pure orange biscotti might be interesting. No extraneous flavors - just orange. And if one orange source is good, four of them should be fantastic.

Quadruple Orange Biscotti

We originally thought about adding white chocolate chips. I'm glad we didn't.

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup orange juice concentrate

1 tsp orange extract

2 tbsp candied orange peel

1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add orange juice concentrate, orange zest, orange extract, and candied orange peel.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. rush tops with egg and sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

There's a bottle of Patron sitting atop the liquor cabinet. It wanted to be included in the fun. There was also a tiny splash of grenadine liqueur left over from something years ago that was just taking up space. Together, they became...

Tequila Mockingbird Biscotti

Okay... Tequila Sunrise probably would have been more apropos, but I liked the name of this one.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp tequila

2 tbsp grenadine liqueur

1 cup blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add tequila, grenadine, and almonds.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

This is our homage to our neighbor in the north, Justin Trudeau. It came about after having a great Canadian Whisky - Forty Creek - in Niagara Falls.

The Justin Trudeau Biscotti

We came up with the recipe while sipping the whisky and eating dinner.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

5 tbsp Forty Creek Canadian Whisky

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, whisky, and maple syrup. Stir in flour.

Divide dough in half. Shape into logs. Place on greased cookie sheets. Brush tops with egg and sprinkle liberally with maple sugar. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

And then we have the biscotti that started it all.

Uncle Rudy’s Biscotti

This is his classic recipe that Victor has made for years and years. It is perfect just as it is, but, as you can see, it lends itself to scores of different flavor combinations.

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cube (stick) butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tbsp anisette (or more…)

1 tbsp toasted anise seed

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, anisette, and anise seed. Stir in flour.

Divide dough in half. Shape into logs. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven.

We have a couple more ideas to come. We want to do a savory biscotti and we still need to come up with an apricot - and maybe a lemon.

Stay tuned.

by Tim Dineen

Cannoli Biscotti

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup ricotta
1 tbsp candied orange peel
1 tbsp candied citron
1 tbsp candied lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
1/2 cup chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add ricotta and mix. Add candied fruit, cherries, and chopped chocolate.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

Gingerbread Biscotti

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp mace
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt
1 stick butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugars and butter. Add molasses. Add eggs one at a time.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

Quadruple Orange Biscotti

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 stick butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
1 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp candied orange peel
1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add orange juice concentrate, orange zest, orange extract, and candied orange peel.

Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. With floured hands, shape into logs. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. rush tops with egg and sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool completely. Slice into 1/2″ slices and toast on both sides in 350° oven for another 15 or so minutes.

Appetizers