Hey hottie, want some biscotti?

Remember when one of my challenges was to bake a loaf of biscotti? I finally made it. And surprisingly, it wasn't challenging. Like, at all. Thankfully I'm enrolled in 18 hours and working 20 hours a week, so I am challenged daily with balancing class/work and my sanity (please note sarcasm). (I actually am very thankful that I have the opportunity to go to school and work in the community.) (And I also love parentheses, if you haven't noticed.) You probably want the recipe, huh? Moving on...


You will need:
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon ground anise seed (optional)
2 large eggs
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large, heavy sheet with wax paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, combine sugar, butter, and anise seed. Mix in eggs one at a time. In small amounts, beat in the dry mixture from the medium bowl. Stir in chocolate chips. Form the dough into a log-like shape on the wax paper. Put in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. If you want your biscotti half-baked, stop here. If you want the real deal, remove the biscotti after 30 minutes as mentioned. Let biscotti cool for 30 minutes. Then, cut the log into slices at an angle. Put the biscotti back into the oven for 15 more minutes. Remove and enjoy.

I didn't use the anise seeds this time. So technically, it isn't chocolate anise biscotti, but you all could rename this Chocolate [fill in the blank] Biscotti and add toasted almonds, cayenne pepper, berries, etc.

The biscotti had the perfect amount of crunch and tastes perfect served with hot chocolate/espresso/milk/whatever in a quirky mug. (Specifically a cheesy vacation mug from South Carolina.)


I also made a 15 bean soup from scratch this weekend (save for the fact that I did not go on a bean hunt and collect 15 different kinds of beans; the beans were prepackaged). After soaking the beans all day, I began simmering them. And set off the fire alarm. So I renamed it the Fire Alarm Soup. The beans simmered with beef stock, an onion, a lemon, chili powder, and garlic for three hours. When I finally tasted the Fire Alarm Soup, I was highly disappointed and promptly renamed it Crap Soup. The broth/stock was amazing, but the beans - not so much. At least the biscotti turned out.

Hope you all are having a great Monday! I am actually sick and trying to combat this nasty cough with lots of vitamin C. Thankfully, since there is going to be so much snow tomorrow, school has been called off!

That means tonight we're having margaritas. (Which, you know, will totally help my cough.)