Biscotti

Biscotti (which means 'twice baked') are the crunchy Italian cookies whose history goes back hundreds of years. If you've eaten one from an American supermarket, you would agree immediately, and think that you got one of the originals left over from Christopher Columbus' long voyage. Try a batch this Christmas season, and change your mind.  Enjoy them with a cappuccino or a mug of hot cocoa, and leave a few for Santa.  They will be fine all the way back to the North Pole, or to your office in the New Year.

Biscotti
1/2  cup softened butter (one stick)
3/4  cup sugar
2   large eggs
2   teaspoons of vanilla extract
1   teaspoon orange zest
2 1/4   cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2   teaspoon baking powder
1/4   teaspoon salt

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Dry whisk for several seconds.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until blended.  With the mixer still running, add the vanilla extract and the orange zest. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl once or twice to make sure there's nothing clumped at the bottom of the bowl.

With the mixer running, add the dry ingredients slowly by shaking them in. Do this as evenly as possible.  You will notice that the mixture will transform into a cohesive dough 'suddenly', in just one or two turns of the paddle. At this point, stop the mixer.

Scrape the dough right onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat liner.  Pat it into a log form, flattening the top and rounding the sides to be as uniform as possible. Bake the log for the first time for 50 minutes in an oven preheated to 300 degrees.

After the first baking, allow the log to cool until you can hold it to slice it.  Using a large serrated knife, slice into 3/8", long biscotti cookies. You can slice diagonally, or horizontally. Place these cookies onto another baking sheet, also prepared with parchment paper or a silpat liner.  Bake the individual cookies for approximately twenty minutes, after having turned the oven down to 275 degrees.  Half way through the baking time, turn each cookie over carefully to finish the second baking.  You can store them carelessly, and still enjoy them for weeks.

Saint Nicholas

Growing up, we celebrated the Feast of Saint Nicholas on December 6th right along with the American Christmas. The Montenero (Catholic) perspective of saints is that they were human beings who set an example of the best of what a life on earth could be in terms of serving God and our fellow human beings. Every saint had its day (literally) and if not named after their grandparents, children were named after saints.
The stories about St Nicholas and his generosity are known world-wide. Montenero celebrated by making a special meal, Sagne San Nicola; Noodles of Saint Nicholas. This tradition honored the story that Nicholas wanted to feed as many hungry children as he could, so the noodles are made simply with flour and water, and added to a sauce made of garlic aioli (olive oil cooked with garlic).
My great-grandma, Ida Colella, would have 'Open House' (after Mass, of course) and people would stop by all day for a bowl of the sagne.
To commemorate this special day from my childhood, the kids in my neighborhood came by after school for the story, some pasta, and of course, cookies. Their Moms enjoyed a sip or two of Bellinis. I made the pasta a bit more up-to-date with farfalle (bow tie shaped), carrots, and broccolini, but kept the traditional aioli, which everybody loved.

Kringle Chocolate Krinkles

''Christmas is' _______
This writer believes that Christmas is when Christ our Savior is born.  This writer also believes that many of us would fill in the blank with 'cookies'.  If the journey to the Christ Child began from Montenero, the Wise Men would be taking pizzelles, biscotti, and ricotta cookies, probably baked by their Wise Wives. (If my dad went along on the trip, not too many cookies would make it all the way to Mary and Joseph) Homemade cookies are a special way to share joy and surprise people with their favorites from childhood. This recipe is one of our family's most beloved. Baked by my Aunt Elia, these chocolate crinkles are often chosen as 'My Most Favorite Ever'.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pure vegetable oil
4    squares of Unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
2   cups granulated sugar
4   eggs
2   teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2   cups all-purpose flour
2   teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Tablespoon salt
1   cup powdered sugar
1  cup chopped nuts, optional (I used hazelnuts)

METHOD

Melt squares of chocolate on stovetop using low, gentle heat. An easy way to do this is to set up a 'double boiler', which is just a sauce pan filled one-fourth of the way with water with a heat-proof bowl across the top for the chocolate. Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.

While the chocolate melts, measure the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium sized bowl.  Whisk these dry ingredients for a few seconds to combine.

Mix together vegetable oil, chocolate, and granulated sugar. Blend in one egg at a time until well-mixed.  Add vanilla. Stir dry ingedients into oil mixture.  Fold in nuts (nuts are optional) Chill several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Drop teaspoon of dough (or use small ice cream scoop) into powdered sugar, shape into balls.  Place 2" apart on the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!

Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Printable version of Kringle Chocolate Krinkles