Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

Back in the day (almost a decade, yikes) I worked as a barista for Starbucks. I can still vividly remember the 4:15a alarm clock trying desperately to keep me on time to punch in at 5a. Carrie, my roommate and later bridesmaid slept through the alarm, luckily. That or she was too polite to let on it woke and annoyed her.

I'd get ready and drive to work (half asleep Asian woman driver, very dangerous), it was only about 7 minutes away, I timed it. Those busy mornings (brace yourself, this is cheesy) were some of the best times of my life. No mortgage, no responsibilities, nothing.

Here's a picture of Tien and me at our store. Geez Tien, go wash your apron. Haha, she hates me.

Biscotti always remind me of that time. We had these big glass jars full of vanilla almond and chocolate hazelnut biscotti. After I found a great biscotti recipe I changed it a little to use ingredients I had in my pantry and the result?

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti.

They're awesome, the lavender and lemon combo really work well together. Seriously though, someone please find a shorter name for these.

Ready? Let's roll.

Start w/ my favorite ingredient: butter. One stick (i.e., 1/4 lb. or 1/2 c. - I think I finally have it now) at room temperature.

I used my stand mixer but you can use a hand mixer or just do it by hand and skip the gym that day. Cream the mixture w/ 3/4 c. of sugar. The only reason I deviated from the full cup in the original recipe was simply b/c that's all we had left. It's embarrassing to admit you went through the whole 10 lb. bag of sugar you got from Costco.

Forget I just said that. Moving on, lemon zest.
Zest of one lemon. Smells like summer to me. Add to the butter an let it go for a sec.

Scrape down the butter/sugar mixture.
Look at all that sugar on the side of the bowl. It needs to socialize w/ everyone else.
Eggs. Original recipe calls for two eggs. You can probably get by w/ just two eggs in this recipe too. It just wasn't written clearly that the last egg white is only for the egg wash. So I just dumped an extra egg in, what the heck. I get eggs from Costco too.
Add them in one at a time and scrape down again (w/ your personalized spatula - ok, promise that's the last time I bring that up).
Then add your flour. 2 c. of the fluffy white stuff.
1 tsp. of each of these characters. You can use almond extract too. I thought of that too late.
Then you get this pretty wet dough.
2/3 c. raw almonds.
1/2 c. dried blueberries, all purchased at my favorite place to shop, Costco.
Mmmm. Why don't I use these more?

All the kids in the pool.
Then, my true stroke of genius: lavender. Just a tsp. please, it's very strong.
Fold all the aforementioned things into the dough. Here's also where you can get creative - dried currants, apricots, dates, peanuts, pine nuts, whatever. Try your own nut/fruit combo. Go ahead, I dare you.

See what I mean about being a super wet dough? Flour your hands well or else you'll end up w/ mallet hand.
Form into logs. Give these guys a little room to grow too, they expand while they bake.

Brush w/ egg wash.

Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar, I used raw sugar. You can get that other fancy turbinado sugar. Oh, the pretense.

It sure is pretty.

15-20 minutes later, here you are. A strange looking cookie log.

Then while the logs are still warm (I didn't wait to let them cool) slice these guys up. I guess try first w/ a serrated knife, then if that doesn't work, use a chef's knife.

It didn't make sense to me anyways when I read that other recipe, the almonds are going to be hard to cut through. I need to write Anne Burrell.

Ok, lay flat and bake again. I had to bake mine for about 20-25 minutes to see any golden brown action.

But then they were. And the seas parted and Moses said.. Oh, wait. NM.

While these were still warm I poured myself a cup of tea and had a nice little break to sit back and admire the handy work.
Check out that blueberry!

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

adapted from this Anne Burrell recipe

makes about 20 biscotti

1 stick butter, room temp (about 1/2 cup or 1/4 lb.)

3/4 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. lemon zest (about the zest of 1 lemon)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract (almond would work well too)

2 . AP flour

2/3 c. whole almonds

1/2 c. dried blueberries

1 tsp. dried lavender

1 egg white

2 tbsp. Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light & fluffy in a stand mixer. Meanwhile, zest lemon and add to the butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and put the mixer on low speed. Crack in one egg at a time until combined - scrape down in between egg additions. Add vanilla extract, flour and baking powder until combined. Fold in almonds, blueberries and lavender - make sure to fold in by hand so almonds and blueberries stay whole and in tact.

Divide the dough in half. The dough will be fairly sticky so flour your hands and form into a log. I used a half sheet baking pan and the log ran about 2 inches shy on each side of reaching the edge of the pan. Separate an egg and mix the white w/ about 1 tbsp. water and brush the tops of each log. Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until set and cooked through, it won't be browned but that's ok. And if you really have a problem w/ it, just bake it for 25 minutes. While warm, remove logs to cutting surface and cut logs on the bias at about 3/4" thickness. I had to cut with a chef's knife (instead of the serrated knife the recipe recommended) since my biscotti were crumbling pretty bad when I got to the almonds. Lay flat (either cut side down) and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled before storage in an airtight container.

Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Crème Brûleé

Ever since I got these vanilla beans from Costco, I've been faced w/ a dilemma. How do I use up all these vanilla beans before they all dry out? Damn you, Costco.

Let's see..I have a dinner w/ friends tonight. How about some creme brulee? Everyone can have a turn at caramelizing their own sugar, love the interactive factor (and if they burn theirs to hell, they have to eat it themselves).

The only thing I added was the chocolate option for people like Gabe. Plus, there's that whole saying about variety being the spice of life?

Start w/ eight large eggs.
Separate egg yolks from whites.

Save the whites for omelets or something.

1/2 c. sugar. You can use vanilla sugar here too. I didn't think of making vanilla sugar until after I started. Duh.

Sorry the pictures aren't so good - it's always a struggle to take pictures when I have to use both hands while cooking.

So whisk the egg yolks to break them up.

Then add the sugar and blend until smooth.

Heat the cream in a saucepan until just before simmering.

Split the vanilla bean in half and using the back of the knife (thanks Ashley & thank your dad for me too! :D) gently scrape out the vanilla beans.

Blend into the egg mixture.

You can tell when the heavy cream is about to simmer by the little tiny bubbles on the side of the pan.

Temper the eggs by whisking in the hot heavy cream a little at a time. I used my 1/2 cup measure just so I wouldn't have to dirty anything extra. Gabe cried a tear of joy.

Whisk in. If you're using a hand mixer like me, just use the low setting. I had all these annoying bubbles. I was worried they were going to ruin my pretty creme brulees but you have to put the sugar on top anyways. No worries.

Ladle the vanilla ones into the ramekins. If you want to make chocolate ones too, hold back on dishing the rest of the mixture.

Get about 1 tbsp. of cocoa powder in a bowl.

Mix in 1 tbsp. very hot (I used boiling) water to melt the cocoa powder.

Mix until nice and glossy. Get all the lumps out!

Whisk the chocolate back into the remaining creme brulee mixture.

I got so annoyed w/ the foam I skimmed it off. All wasted energy.

Place the pan into the heated oven then pour the water in.

Easier to transfer stuff w/o spilling water.

40 to 45 minutes later, this is what you have.

Ooooh.

Yuuuuuum.

Chocolate tooooo.

I need a bib.

Then you get one of these. And if you don't have one, I wrote directions for how to do this w/ your oven in the recipe below.

Vanilla sugar. About 1 tsp.

Sprinkle on.

Torch until nice and golden.

Oy.

Take a big spoonful. For quality control purposes only.
And then try not to feel guilty about eating 10 more bites.
It's SO yum.
Check out the vanilla bean action.
Hard candy sugar coating. Enjoy!

Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Crème Brûleé

makes about five 1/2 c. servings

inspired by Kirkland's Best Rodelle Vanilla Bean packaging

8 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 to 1.5 tbsp. boiling water
5 tsp. vanilla sugar (or regular sugar)

Make sure your creme brulee dishes all fit in a pan with a rim so you can put water to about 1/2 way up the side of the dishes.

Preheat oven 325 degrees. Pour heavy cream into small saucepan and turn on medium low heat. Meanwhile, separate egg yolks from whites. Mix sugar into egg yolks until just smooth. When the cream is just about to simmer, remove from heat. Split a vanilla bean and gently scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod. Mix into the egg/sugar mixture. Temper the eggs with the hot heavy cream a 1/2 cup at a time. After about 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream tempering the eggs, pour the egg mixture into the rest of the cream.

Dish up 2 or 3 of your vanilla creme brulees now. If you want the chocolate versions, in a separate bowl mix the cocoa powder and 1 to 1.5 tbsp. of hot water until the powder is smooth and glossy. Add back into the mixture and mix until combined. Continue to dish into ramekins.

Make sure you have at least 4 cups of hot water nearby. Place the ramekins in the pan/baking dish they will be baked in. Ladel the mixture into the ramekins. I had enough for about 5 1/2 cup servings. Place the pan in the oven then pour the water into the pan. This makes it a little easier to transfer the pan into the oven without spilling water overboard - or worse, INTO your creme brulee.

Bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely and refridgerate until about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve. Take them out of the fridge and let them come up to room temp. Spoon 1 tsp. vanilla sugar in each ramekin and either set under the broiler on the top rack of your oven (about 3 minutes, watch carefully) or use a small culinary torch to caramelize the sugar until a golden crust is formed. Serve immediately, enjoy!