(belated) tales of christmas frenzy

My schoolwork released its grip upon me with a few days to spare before my South-bound departure. Of course, I rather missed the vague squeeze of panic that follows me all term, so I decided to embark on a baking mission. Due to financial and time constraints, I found myself, on the 10th of December, very short on Christmas presents, with many lovely, deserving friends and family members on the gifting radar.

Thankfully, I already had a number of contenders ready to go.


There they are on the right: quince, fig, cardamom & orange, peach butter, and Sicilian tomato jams.

The spicy, rich tomato jam had been the original inspiration for my baking venture. I imagined it spread on some cheese biscotti with a glass of red wine, and forthwith I had found a recipe for parmesan, black pepper biscotti.

But first I had to make some sesame cookies to use up that tahini.
It was really cold that week -- about ten degrees outside, I think. So cold that my kitchen got all steamed up, in fact!



A satisfying mess was soon underway.



They were really good. I consumed a very decent representative sample. In a flash of inspiration, I had decided to add a big pinch of kosher salt -- it was a perfect surprise crunch.



These sesame cookies made excellent spur-of-the-moment presents. I always like to feel as prepared as possible in December!

I then moved on to the expected star of my Christmas Baking Episode of 2009.



I had pinched an abandoned jar of saffron from the cabinet of my old house on Howard St. in San Francisco, which inspired my idea: saffron, orange, almond biscotti.

I felt quite festive getting everything going in my KitchenAid.



Making biscotti is wonderful because it's just so easy. The dough is smooth and satisfying to shape (use wet hands); first you add the dry ingredients to the wet, then shape the very sticky dough into loggish shapes on the baking sheet.

The texture is improved by a quick chill.



Followed by baking (duh).



Then you must wait for the logs to cool (or the cookies will be dangerously crumbly) before slicing and baking again.

Bis = twice, cotti = cooked, in case you were wondering. It seems I have no pictures of the final product. Probably because I was so excited about moving on to #2: parmesan black pepper biscotti, to go with that garnet-colored spicy tomato jam.

Another good mess was very soon underway.


The mixer really got a workout!


It's very sticky stuff.

Plenty of parmesan and butter in there. Of which evidence was most apparent after baking.



After the second baking, I wrapped up both kinds of biscotti in neurotic little bundles, and carefully labeled them (using my favorite media: fine-tip sharpie on neon green painter's tape "for hard-to-stick surfaces"). Ready to go out by mail and suitcase!



Plenty more cookie frenzy to come, after relocation to Vermont via San Francisco.