MAKING MONDELBROT aka BISCOTTI

Two-thirds of the way through the biscotti bakeoff experiment. The first batch was my original recipe, adapted from Bon Appetit December 1992 issue--Orange, Chocolate and Hazelnut Mandelbrot: substituted almonds and added finely chopped dried cherries. The directions tell you to shape the [very sticky] dough into a loaf for the first baking. It ALWAYS spreads out too much, so I used a 12" loaf pan. You don't get the nice dome on top... As you can see, there was too much dough for a 12" pan so I got super-sized biscotti [on right]. Yummy!

The second go-round [on left], I made 1/2 the recipe in a 10" loaf pan and substituted finely chopped pecans and coconut and diced dried pineapple. Lovely.

The third version will be peanutbutter, pecans, and chocolate chips...

EVOLVING WHEN LIFE SENDS YOU LEMONS

Still looking for the voice and consistent themes for this food/travel/thoughts blog. Stay tuned...

I am experimenting with biscotti recipes and will share recipes and photos very soon. The base recipe is actually for mandelbrot [mondel bread] the Jewish version of Italian biscotti that was published in the December 1992 issue of Bon Appetit--Orange, Chocolate and Hazelnut Mandelbrot.

There used to be a fantastic store on West Grand in Chicago--Anna, Ida and Me--my introduction to mondel bread and the delirious revelation that biscotti can be full-bodied and flavorful and not just dry and airy.