Biscotti

Ciao! 

With the cold weather we've been having lately, everyone's reaching for hot drinks.  What goes better with coffee or tea than Biscotti? 

Growing up, I remember visiting Grandma & Grandpa Carbone a lot.  Being a typical Italian Grandma, you couldn't visit without eating something and you usually headed out the door after your visit with a bag of biscotti and sometimes a miniature loaf of homemade bread too!  Grandma has many recipes for biscotti in her recipe boxes (and also multiple recipes for Scalili & Ginetti, amongst others), this particular one is clearly well-used and is noted "my revised version". 

Biscotti

8 C Flour - or more            3 tsp Baking Powder
7 Eggs                                 3 TBS Anise Seed
1 3/4 C Sugar                     Anise Oil - a few drops
Salt     
1/2 C Melted Butter
1/2 C Oil

Beat eggs real well - add sugar, gradually add oil & butter, then dry ingredients.  Knead until dough is nice & smooth.  From into loaves & put in the refrigerator for a couple of hrs. (you don't have to do this but I find they come out better.)  Bake in 375 degree oven until brown - around 15 min.  Take out, slice diagonally & put back on cookie sheets to toast.

Chris' Notes:  One of the variations I noticed amongst the Biscotti recipes was the use of melted butter vs. softened butter.  I've always used softened, but I'm definitely going to try them with melted butter since it's often very difficult to get butter to soften in my house in the winter.  You don't need to worry about spacing the biscotti apart on the cookie sheet for the toasting step - they won't spread so pile them on.  You'll love the smell of these as they bake!  By the way, they are great with a glass of wine too. ;)

Felice cucinare!

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies (Regina)

Grandpa (Albert) Carbone's favorite cookies were Peanut Butter.  I remember my cousin, Amy, making giant peanut butter cookies (a whole cookie sheet worth) for special occasions and he always seemed tickled (who wouldn't?).  Grandma received this recipe from her friend, Regina.  There are lots of Regina's recipes amongst Grandma's collection and most of them include the notation "V.G." or "Very Good" - this one included.

Peanut Butter Cookies happen to be one of my favorites too - especially if they're chewy and they're one of the few cookies of this type (drop) that I enjoy without adding nuts (although I do often use chunky PB).

If there is a PB Cookie recipe unique to our family, I'd love someone to share it - or maybe Amy would share the one she always made for Grandpa?

Old Fashioned P. Butter Cookies     (Regina)
2 1/2 C Flour                    1 C Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder       1 C Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda            2 Eggs
1/4 C Margerine                2 tsp. Vanilla
1 C Peanut Butter

Mix at medium speed margerine & P. Butter until smooth.  Add sugars, eggs & vanilla.  Add dry ingredients.  Chill dough.  Shape in 1" balls.  Bake at 350 degrees in ungreased pan.  (Very Good):

I hope you enjoy these.  Until next time - happy baking!

Update January 4, 2012:  I can't believe it's been almost a full year since I posted this recipe - one of the first on this blog!  Last week, I finally baked a batch of these cookies.  I have started selling my baked goods at the resort where I work and wanted a traditional peanut butter cookie to include in the offerings. 

I thought the amount of fat was pretty skimpy - usually you have equal parts fat and peanut butter and sure enough, I had a really tough time getting the dough to hold together - it was pretty dry. I ended up making a whole new batch from my old tried and true recipe and putting the cookies from this recipe in our own cookie jar to eat at home.  BUT, and this is an big BUT, they were so amazingly delicious!  Arynn & I both really love peanut butter cookies and these did not dissappoint, in fact, they were simply addictive!  They were nice and crisp on the outside but chewy and dense on the inside and the peanut butter flavor really came through.  I will definitely make these again and I'll switch to this recipe for my cookies to sell from here on out.  It's far more important to have a delicious cookie that delivers the flavor and texture you expect than it is to have an attractive cookie.  Chalk this one up to a lesson learned!  Hope you make these soon and enjoy them as much as we did - I may have to make another batch tomorrow...

Italian Cabbage Casserole

There are no notes of source on the recipe card for this one, but I'm certain it's not one of Grandma's own since there are notes as to how she preferred to make it.  As usual, I'll enter it just as written on the recipe card.  I seem to remember my mom being a fan of this dish.  Grandma says "Delicious!!"

Italian Cabbage Casserole

1 med Cabbage                     
1 lb Ground Beef (or less)
1/4 C rice ("I use 1/2")         
1 C chopped Onion
1 pk. spaghetti sauce mix} ("I use my own")
1 - 8 oz. spaghetti sauce}
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano

Cut cabbage into 2" wedges.  Place in oiled casserole.  Sprinkle ground beef & rice over cabbage - cover with onion.  Mix salt, oregano & tomato sauce together.  Pour over cabbage.  Cover & bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until done.  Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!