It looks like more than it feels, written out. Biscotti. A clean house, a happier friend, a book review, a post draft, a bunch of meeting notes, and a little music. Two snacks. Three cups of tea. 100% of the way through one book and 14% into another.
See, I could have done much more, and that chafes me. Its hard to accept I don’t have to be all I can be, do all I can do, and fill every single minute of every day–or even most of them–with busy. I hereby remind myself i am permitted to take long walks, surf trivia and memes, and flail at cruel fate a little bit while nibbling biscotti on the couch in front of tv.
Yes, that’s what I did this evening for hours. HOURS, I say. And yet the world spins on.
It’s okay, self. It was a good day.
Also, the biscotti are delicious. They are chocolate-cherry chunk biscotti, a variation on the following recipe:
Kitchen Sink Biscotti
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or pan liner
In a bowl sift together:
3 c. flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
in a second bowl mix together:
1 c. dried cranberries
1 c diced dried apricots
1/2 c. crunched-up sliced/slivered roasted almonds
or if you’re me today, you sub in a cup of dried cherries and a 1/2 cup of mini choclate chips for the cranberries and apricots. Because it was that kind of Tuesday.
in a third and biggest bowl, cream together:
1 stick butter ( or 1/2 c. shortening)
1 1/2 c. white sugar
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil (NOT olive oil)
Add – in this order, blending well between additions:
3 whole eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
juice of 1 small lime or lemon 2-4 tbsp juice)
Add flour mixture and mix just until blended.
Add in fruits and nuts – do not overmix
Dough will be sticky-sticky-sticky; do not add extra flour unless you can’t get it to form into a ball at all. The dough is best handled with wet hands. I do my dough-shaping next to the sink and keep the faucet running so I can re-wet my hands as it starts to stick.
Form dough into 1 to 2″ thick logs on cookie sheets about 3″ apart. How many logs you get depends on the size and orientation of the cookie sheets. On standard half-sheet pans in landscape orientation I get 2 landscape-orientd logs per sheet
Bake 20 to 30 min, until logs just begin to brown.
Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees
Slice logs into strips and/or bite-size chunks while still warm
Turn strips/bites on end and return to oven once it’s cooled to 300 to dry until toasty-crunchy – about 10-15 min per side or to personal taste.
Store in an air-tight container. They should be good for a week. Not that they ever last that long around here.
Here’s to happy tomorrows.