Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti



A hot cup of coffee and a bag of leftover hazelnuts from Easter were the inspiration for making these cookies. I went searching for a cinnamon-hazelnut biscotti recipe online and found one on allrecipes.com ... click here for original

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hazelnuts

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; mix into the egg mixture. Stir in the hazelnuts. Shape dough into two equal logs approximately 12 inches long. Place logs on baking sheet, and flatten out to about 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake for about 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until edges are golden and the center is firm. Remove from oven to cool on the pans. When loaves are cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to slice the loaves diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes, turning over once. Cool completely, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!

Easter just isn't Easter without peeps, cadbury cream eggs, and of course...Lambie Cake! This was my first solo attempt. After three surgical procedures, here he is.


and when life gives you excess cake batter...

Monday, March 03, 2008

Charleston Food & Wine Festival



After finishing up a long term project at work, C and I took a weekend getaway to Charleston for the Food & Wine Festival. It was sort of a last minute trip, so we were limited on our choice of events, but it was a fantastic break.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on Meeting Street. The building is the original Citadel Military College, with many of the original features restored. Here is the atrium...



C checks out the little port hole window in the bedroom. These appear all over the building. I'm sure they served a purpose at some point (anyone know?)


The first event we went to was Bubbles & Sweets late Saturday evening,



Amaretto Cocktails as you entered (yes, that woman's hat is attached to the table)


a DJ to keep the party going...






candy sushi




Cake with a BOURBON MILKSHAKE ...the inventer of that drink was a genious :)


Chocolates from NYC


My favorite sweet of the evening...


and it's creator...


and look who it is, Jim Cantore from the weather channel...


and Sam Talbot from Top Chef


We spent the next morning in the Culinary Village and had tickets for the tasting tents (our hotel's the castle looking building behind the tent)...






Hanging at the Childress Racing/Winery tent...






CHEERS!