nut-raisin biscotti.

i made biscotti! again, i know. i love the sheer crispness of it, and the fact that so little fat is necessary for baking (makes it easier when im just not bothered enough to warm butter, or even buy butter).

the original recipe was meant to make an immensely chunky, nut-speckled cracker with the dough serving more like gravel does to hold bricks in place, but i chose a less chunky version with sweet raisins because sometimes, i just plain like the cracker. toss the flour in a bowl and top with your assortment of goodies: here i chose mixed chopped nuts (always found that these were easier to use in biscotti because you didnt have to risk messing up your cutting when the nuts were just too hard oops i believe that was a sexual innuendo :x), sweet dark currants and poppy seeds. poppy seeds are AMAZING. i love the taste and smell of them, and miss them desperately when i can't get them in singapore.


if you would mix them all up, you get this thick dough. but persevere! halfway through i thought she had missed out adding the oil in with the egg, but if you continue, it does mix up to a very nicely thick dough that's easy to work with.



pat it into logs, or press it into a loaf pan. didnt have the latter, so i made these by hand. the dough was wonderful! i didnt even need to damp my fingers to work with it.


toss them in the oven and cook till done, and remove to a chopping board.



after slicing, toast them in the oven once more, a couple minutes each side, and you get WONDERFUL biscotti.


you can find the original list of ingredients on the link above, but here is what i used.

1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup currants
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2/3 cup chopped nuts
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup castor sugar

yes, i know the oil is missing from the equation. i didnt have a brush to use, and didnt think it would be necessary for my biscotti to brown, so i plain left it out. to your discretion, dearies.

and just as a treat! here is some castella cake that my housemate bought from japan. it's really a soft, lovely, butter sponge cake. i havent had it before, although i've been reading about it and i thought it would be denser, like a butter cake, and richer. but it really was rather nice and japanese, if that makes sense.