High tea & Biscotti!

Mon cher Coco,

What a plunge! Last Saturday, Marco and I invited Tess and Daniel (our Franco-German friends) for high tea at 5P.M. I served them a selection of salmon and cream cheese sandwiches (+ a jet of lemon, lumpfish caviar, a bed of watercress and a few leaves of cilantro), and my first-ever chocolate biscotti. Well, the mountain of biscotti was devoured in no time. As my guests noticed with obvious pleasure, they were crispy on the outside but still a bit soft inside; not like most biscotti that can be a bit too hard, so much so that when you plant your teeth in them, you fear you might break one or two...
This being said, over Sauvignon Blanc and Earl Grey tea, we devised plans for our Homemade Xmas Presents Party, the concept entailing that we will gather to make Christmas presents ourselves for our loved ones. We decided on a date and on the products that will be made, preserved in beautiful jars or boxes and wrapped in joyful ribbons: Xmas granola, chocolate truffles, biscotti (savoury and sweet) and mulled wine to be enjoyed on the spot (because this doesn't keep easily...).

For more ideas of homemade Xmas presents, stay tuned as I will go through and review all the presents that I make at home for my loved ones!

Here is the Biscotti recipe, for your eyes only. Enjoy!

Biscotti (from Chocolate, by Trish Deseine)

Makes about 30
Preparation time:20 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

1 handheld electric mixer
Cookie sheets
waxed paper

1 heaping cup of sugar
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
9 ounces (250-270 g) best quality dark chocolate chips.
Instead of 9 ounces of chocolate chips, play with what you have and like the most: cranberrries, almonds, hazelnuts, peeled candied orange....I personally put 230g of chocolate chips and added currants and pistachios to reach 270g.

Pre-heat the oven to 350*F (180*C).
Beat the sugar and butter. Add the eggs one by one, then the vanilla. Incorporate the flourand baking powder. Add the chocolate chips and mix well. On waxed paper, shapethe mixture into two rectangles, 10 inches (env.25-30cm) long and 4 inches (env.10cm) wide. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes, The cake should be crackled on top and a knife inserted into the centre should come out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300*F (150*C).

Slip the cakes onto a board and, while still hot, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices (env.1-1,5cm). Place the biscotti, ont their sides, on cookie sheets and bake again for 5-8 minutes, each side. They should be golden on top. Leave to cool, then indulge yourself by dunking them in a cup of your favourite hot beverage!