Edible Memoir

If you’re already tired of hearing me drone on about biscotti, then turn away now. Since writing that last Biscotti Blog, I’ve quite literally made biscotti a few thousand more times. And I shall use the rest of this blog post to expound on said times. Biscotti has quickly rose through the ranks of my repertoire of desserts, becoming my most commonly requested dessert for dinner parties, social functions, and the like. I’ve made every flavor and shape of biscotti one could conceive of, or at least the ones I could conceive of. My biscotti recipe has been pulled, shrunk, tweaked, and altered to accommodate every occasion, I can practically bake biscotti with my eyes closed and an arm tied behind my back, however, I haven’t tested that theory yet. Cranking out biscotti batches comes as easy as breathing, the type of easy breathing I used to have pre-covid — ah the good ol’ days. Several of my variations of biscotti include cinnamon, orange, anise, lemon, coconut shavings, almond, macadamia nut, brown sugar, cocoa, cacao, peppermint, and coconut sugar. I’ve cut the recipe in fourths and I’ve multiplied it by 4, anyway you slice it, I’ve out-biscottied myself at every turn. And of course, I’ve made 101 batches of vanilla biscotti, and the thing about classics is that they’re pretty hard to beat. By far, my favorite flavor is vanilla. I wouldn’t say it’s simple, because I hate the word simple, I’d say it’s timeless. As timeless as the biscotti itself.

As mentioned earlier, I’ve already done a dive into the history of biscotti in my first biscotti blog post. As it turns out, all roads do indeed lead back to Rome. From there though, biscotti takes a roundabout journey and somehow finds its way onto Christopher Columbus’ ship. And from there it just keeps making wrong turns because at some point we stopped eating biscotti with wine, specifically of the vin Santo variety, and started dipping it into coffee. I’m not pointing fingers, but I’m sure it had to do with that perfidious Columbus. I’d like to start a petition and normalize biscotti with wine again. There’s a quintiessential timelessness in that combination, don’t you think?

Due to my inability to savor stillness and basically to avoid ADHD malaise, I had to challenge myself to create something larger and different from the timeless biscotti. I have a friend who loves biscotti, more specifically my biscotti — I’m assuming it’s because of her Italian roots. Well I surprised her for her birthday and crafted a biscotti birthday cake. It was quite the feat and a masterpiece if I do say so myself. It was a masterpiece in ingenuity and a masterclass in alternative ingredients. She has a bit of a cane sugar intolerance, and to be honest I do too, but shush, therefore I constructed said biscotti birthday cake entirely with coconut sugar biscotti. Never one to shy from a baking challenge, I made a 3-tiered biscotti birthday cake. I then liberally drizzled the tiers with melted cacao and sliced strawberries. And at the end the cake measured 10 inches tall and 6 inches at its widest part. Those 10 inches may not sit entirely straight, but I’ve never met an Italian who’s scared of a bit of leaning.

This past Christmas I put together little gift baskets for a handful of people in my life. I made homemade garlic herb salt, candied oranges, hot chocolate mix, lemon rosemary shortbread cookies, and a plethora of biscotti. I placed all the cookies into thrifted cookie tins or cookie jars and paired the homemade goodies with store bought treats of wine and candles. I like to think I’m creating a tradition for years to come, because how else do traditions begin. Interestingly enough, the tradition of gift baskets didn’t begin with me, gift basket true history goes back much further than my two year tradition. In a not so surprising twist, the conception of a basket for giving originates from another holiday, Easter. Some thousand of years ago, a holiday was named after the goddess of fertility, Eostre. And if you’re having any difficulty making the jump from Eostre to Easter, you should get your eyes checked. Anyways, Eostre’s capsule wardrobe included her iconic basket, she made it cool before Ms. Jane Birkin. And then later, in ancient Rome, the god, Saturn, received offerings in baskets similar to Eostre. Each deity received agriculturally focused bounties at their own festivals aptly named, Eostre and Saturnalia, respectively. Obviously the idea of gift giving has evolved since then, but the roots remain the same — the giving of bounties out of generosity and plenty. Don’t tell the Christians, but their gift giving is still probably appeasing the pagan gods. Regardless of your religion or lack thereof, gift giving when done correctly, provides a sense of fulfillment and happiness that far exceeds that of the receiver. So if you want to be a bit more selfish in the holidays to come, forgo the letter to Santa and give to your hearts content. Speaking of Santa, I wonder if the children of Italy lay out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk like us American children. Or maybe they lay out biscotti and a glass of vin Santo.

I fear my hands will not stay still for long because I’m eternally on the search for what’s next, for what’s on the other side. The future of my biscotti recipes may lead to the land in the east. Perhaps I’ll attempt some asian flavor inspired biscotti — I’m thinking the elusive and verdant flavor of pandan shall be first. The grass mayhap be greener on the other side. In any case, the biscotti recipe remains generally the same through each iteration.

Edible Elements

Makes about 2 biscotti loafs, the amount of slices depends on how you cut your biscotti

Butter – 7 tablespoons

Sugar – less than 2/3 cups

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Vanilla extract – 3 tablespoons (this ingredient depends on the flavor you’re going for)

Baking powder – 1 1/2 tsp

Eggs – 2

Flour – 2 cups, depending on how much wet ingredients you add, like extra extract or nuts or zest, add or subtract accordingly

Milk – 1 tsp, to lather the tops of your loaves, it browns the top beautifully, you can omit this ingredient if you want

Course Sugar – to sprinkle on top of the lathered milk, I like to adjust this element depending on if I add or remove certain salty elements, measure with your heart, or omit, its forever your choice