So this weekend I planned on making a couple different things to blog about, because I wanted to leave my options open. I needed to make biscotti for my mother-in-law (she requested something with white chocolate), I planned on making brownies, and the zucchini in my fridge was begging to be made into zucchini bread.
But I was feeling pretty tired Saturday and the furthest I got was finishing up the biscotti. And by midnight, I was praying to the porcelain goddess. Seems that my fatigue was not merely a result of staying up until 3 AM the night prior playing The Sims (worth it). No, I had contracted the dreaded norovirus from my sister, who I took care of on Friday. For the 3rd time this year. Fun!
So, needless to say, baking was put on hold, and I was too dizzy to even take pictures of the biscotti. So these photos are courtesy of my wonderful husband, who tried to make sense of my delirious instructions. I think he did a pretty good job.
The worst part about being sick is not having an appetite. I couldn’t even try a piece of the biscotti, but my official taste-tester (nope, still my husband) tells me that the white chocolate came through. I was trying to at least browse social media to keep myself entertained during my couch captivity, but pretty much everywhere I went there were pictures of food. Facebook? Oh, look, the Jazz & Ribs Festival. Instagram? See our dessert?! Pinterest? Aww hell naw.
Encouragingly, I am feeling pretty jazzed about eating some toast in a few minutes (it’s a sad day when toast gets you in a tizzy), so I’m sure I’ll get around to those brownies and the zucchini bread any day now! You know, once I can stand without my head pounding.
Cherry White Chocolate Biscotti
yield: 20 biscotti of varying lengths
Ingredients:
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons butter, softened
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (80 grams) dried cherries
½ cup (90 grams) white chocolate chunks
2 teaspoons granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
With mixer on the lowest speed, add flour mixture and beat until just a little bit of flour is visible. Mix in cherries and white chocolate on low speed until combined.
Lightly flour your hands to prevent sticking and divide dough in half. Form each half into a 7×2-inch loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove to a wire cooling rack to cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
Using a large spatula, transfer loaves to a cutting board. Cut ½-inch slices on the diagonal; each log should produce about 10 slices. Some pieces will be longer than others! Stand slices upright on the baking sheet and return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until cookies are crispy. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Source: siftandwhisk.com (defunct blog)
