Plucking up my courage

Its official. I tendered my resignation and will be moving on to regional internal audit. Although I have not stayed very long in my current firm (about 18 months), I have grown to be used to the workload and lifestyle here. The familiar window seat that I take whenever I am in the office, the frequent visits to the boss’ room for discussions, the clients that bug me every now and then… To be honest, I am a little hesitant about moving. I am very afraid I won’t like the new environment, the new type of work I am exposed to, new people. Although I have my fair share of complaints about this current job of mine, at least I know what to expect and how to deal with issues that arise. After taking a few days to think it through, I decided to stick to my decision to move. Just a few days ago, an email was sent to every one in the firm hinting of possible retrenchments and pay cuts in July. I thank my lucky stars that I found a job and hopefully everything will go well from now onwards. Keeping my fingers crossed.

This biscotti I am making today is adapted from my favourite site Smitten Kitchen. The only thing I changed was the nuts, I didn’t have any hazelnuts. I was rummaging through my pantry and found 2 bags of moulding pecans and almonds. Obviously they don’t survive well in this hot and humid weather. I should have put them in the fridge. My bad! Deb wasn’t kidding when she said the dough was sticky. My previous experiences with sticky dough weren’t pleasant and neither was this one. I flour the hell out of it and ended up looking like a kid playing with mud I didn’t manage to get my dough into 2 neat little logs like Deb. I just patted it into one big blob, resulting in really fat log of biscotti. It looks like sh*t. Literally. But it tastes good so it is all worth the while eh?

Chocolate Macadamia Biscotti
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 ½ cup macadamia
2 ½ cups flour, plus flour for work surface
½ cup Dutch-style cocoa powder
1 tablespoon espresso powder
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar.

1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Spread macadamia on baking sheet and toast about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Set toasted nuts aside to cool.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder together and set aside.

3. Beat eggs lightly, just until blended, in mixing bowl with whisk or in electric mixer. Remove two tablespoons of egg mixture to small dish and set aside. Beat sugar into remaining eggs until blended. Stir in flour mixture to form soft dough.

4. Divide the dough in half and place one portion on a very well-floured work surface. (I used parchment) With floured hands, pat it into a six-inch square. Scatter half the macadamia nuts on the dough and press them into the surface. Roll the dough into a cylinder about a fat log, about 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. Brush the tops of both rolls with the reserved egg.

5. Place in the oven and bake about 35 minutes, until firm to the touch. Transfer to a cutting board and cut on an angle into slices one-half-inch thick. Return the slices to the baking sheet, laying them on their cut sides, and return them to the oven. Bake another 25 minutes, until they are crisp and dry. Allow to cool completely before storing or serving.

When life give you almonds…

…….Make biscotti. Especially these beauties. I have a bag of almonds sitting around for the longest time. A mistake buy by my papa. He thought it would be nice to have some almonds around so that he could nibble on them when he was feeling peckish. Well, he thought wrong. He probably ate no more than a handful and left the rest untouched. Then again, I should not comment too much on his behavior since I am pretty much the same too. Perhaps bad habits run in the family too.

Mom commissioned me to use up those almonds before they grow stale. I threw in some chopped apricots as well as mom loves them. They went pretty well with the almonds. I also reduced the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup. With the addition of dried fruits, the biscotti were sweet enough. I flipped through Dorie’s Baking: From my home to yours and decided to make Lenox Almond Biscotti. The dough gave me quite abit of problem as it was really moist and a little difficult to shape. After adding an extra handful of flour and chilling it in the fridge for 15 minutes, it was much easier. Still, I got some misshappened logs that did not look quite promising. I was slightly miffed as I saw some really pretty biscotti done by TWDers. After baking it twice, they turned out looking much better than I expect. I loved mine really crunchy, so I baked it slightly longer the second time round. I think that this is a really adaptable recipe, you can add other types of nuts, fruit or even chocolate. Don’t worry if your dough spread quite abit while baking the first time. They will turn out just fine!

Lenox Almond Biscotti

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my house to yours)   

 

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal (I used white cornmeal)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of pure almond extract (I omitted that)

1/4 cup chopped apricots
1/2 cup of sliced almonds (I use chopped)

 

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal together.

3. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract if you are adding. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You’ll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and apricots and mix just to blend.

4. Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

6. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet, setting them again on the same sides as before and slide the sheet back into the oven.

7. Bake the biscotti at 175C for another 20 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.