Chapter I: The Basics i. Biscotti

"I'm so full!" my fiancé groaned, patting his stomach and glancing disdainfully at the half-empty container of biscotti on the table in front of him. 

"They're homemade, we can eat as many as we want, things that are homemade don't have calories, you know." 

Sure, half a Pyrex of cinnamon sugar biscotti at 8:30 in the morning might have been a bit much, but we owed it to ourselves after the challenge of baking them kept us up much later than we would have liked to have been awake the night before. See, I was watching a movie on Netflix ("Good Will Hunting" - it's a guilty pleasure) when I decided to make the biscotti and as I tried to focus on the recipe I couldn't help but be a little distracted by the dialogue in the background (note to self: devote full time and concentration to baking projects going forward). And so, instead of adding two cups of flour as the recipe called for, I filled the measuring cup twice resulting in four wopping cups of flour added to my wet ingredients. And of course I realized too late. At first I panicked and then, as is my way, I gave-up. Luckily, right when I was ready to dump the mixture, my wonderful fiancé noticed my despair and jumped in to problem solve (he's the cook, I'm the 'baker'). He helped me double the recipe and save the dough even despite my constant grumbling of "it's all wrong, it won't come right no matter what we do" and "we should just scrap it and start over". Unfortunately, we only had less than half the amount of butter we needed, so we substituted milk and vegetable oil...which I'm sure, if you're a seasoned baker, is going to make you want to stop reading right now. We were desperate.

I had low expectations but I was overjoyed at how they came out. A crispy shell on the outside, soft and crumbly on the inside, with just the slightest touch of anise extract to compliment the espresso we planned to drink with them in the morning. They could have stayed in the oven a bit longer the first time (Paul Hollywood would have said, "These are a touch under-baked.") and they were a touch too snickerdoodle-y for me, so I think next time I'll skip the cinnamon sugar coating but I have to say - I was pleased.

This is one of the reasons I love baking: Even when you think you've irreparably messed something up and you're ready to throw in the towel, there's always something that can help you turn it around. And most situations can be remedied by adding more butter (we are a butter family - no judgement please).

By the way: did you know biscotti is plural? One biscotti is a biscotto. Further, since in Italian the word for cookie (as in all cookies, not a specific type) is biscotto - what we think of as biscotti here in the US are actually called cantucci in Italy. Further, did you know that I'm learning Italian? Everyone in my family speaks it, my mother is a first generation Italian (more on this later), and yet I've made it twenty-nine years without speaking a word of it and understanding very little - which is actually hugely embarrassing for me to admit. Better late than never?

In celebration of my first almost-failed-but-magically-redeemed foray into Italian biscuitry, I will practice conjugation of the verb Mangiare: To Eat.

Io Mangio
Tu Mangi
Lei/Lui Mangia
Voi Mangiate
Noi Mangiamo
Loro Mangiano 

And in a sentence:

Io mangio i cantucci: I eat the cantucci.

Until next time, ciao, buona serata! 

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Cinnamon Biscotti Recipe (adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate, and More):

Ingredients
1 Egg
1 Egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp Baking powder
3 tsp Cinnamon
2 cups Flour
1/4 cup Granulated sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Sugar
6 tbsp Butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp anise extract

Soften butter. 
When softened, mix butter and sugar with a wooden spoon (or your hands!) until well integrated. Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and anise.
In a separate bowl, mix baking powder, cinnamon, flour, and salt.
Add dry to wet, slowly, while stirring. 
When mixture is dough-like and firm, divide in half and make two wide, flat logs.
Brush with egg wash and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture until well coated.
Bake for 45 min at 350. 
Take out of oven, while still warm, slice in biscotti sized cookies.
Put back into the oven for about 15 more minutes at same temp.
Mangiate bene! 

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