Fennel Almond Biscuits/Biscotti

After my last baking experiment, I wanted something good, reliable, and a little lighter. Good thing Clea always has my number:

And mine:

Fennel and almonds...

I do love licorice - anything licorice. It's true, I've even had storybook dreams of a licorice wedding, complete with licorice laces, Pernod cocktails, anise, fennel bulbs...black and white stripes, top hats...

And almonds (butter and powder) round out the root-fennel-flavor so well, while the vanilla pulls out the fennel seed's sweetness.

I modified Clea's recipe, substituting 40 grams plain non-fat yogurt for her soy milk, as well as used vanilla extract instead of vanilla-ed sugar and mixed grape seed oil with olive oil (grape seed oil doesn't break down as much as olive oil at high temperatures).

She advised popping the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes before slicing, but mine was in there for 2 hours...and was still gloopy - hence her ultra thin slices and my thick shake-your-finger chunks.


But no hard feelings. With a spot of tea in the late afternoon, or served with a small bowl of vanilla ice cream after a dinner party, these flew pretty quickly out of the cookie tin. And with scant sugar, healthy almonds, heavenly aromas, and great crunch/crumble, these biscuits/biscotti darlings have earned their place in the frequent baking rotation.


Fennel Almond Biscuits/Biscotti

150g all-purpose flour
50g almond powder
80g sugar - unrefined fair trade/organic
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp fennel seeds
1 egg
40g plain non-fat yogurt
40g blend of olive and grape seed oil

* Metric conversions got you sweating? Check out this older post...then buy yourself a little food scale.

(original recipe and here, too)
(Clea's modified recipe: she took out the pine nuts and adjusted the animal product content to zero a la biotoniquasibonnnnne)

Dulce de Leche Pecan Brownies and an Ice Cream Solution

Have you ever made Dulce de Leche?

This was my first time, too. You can call this post a Dulce de Leche Virgin Liberation Theology Lesson if you like. Or you can be like me and say, "Ah, ah, smart cookie!"


Here's what happened:

1) I droooooled over this recipe by David

2) I had some leftover milk from a kinda bad experiment

3) I didn't want to dirty up a baking dish with condensed milk (eep: industrial food product)

4) ...so I scoured the 'net for a simple recipe, didn't find one I liked, so went with Wikipedia

5) Nearly burned off all the hair on my arms in the process, but after several hours of stirring, stirring, stirring milk, brown sugar, and vanilla extract, I finally had this:



...A little chunkier than what Wikipedia had promised...

6) ...Now, HOURS LATER, it's time to make the brownie batter:

(a) melt chocolate and butter in the oven


(b) blend well and take food porn shots


(c) mix together dry ingredients
Eeeeesh. That's a lot of sugar, David. Are you sure about this?...

(d) add eggs and vanilla extract to melted chocolate-butter, then mix in dry stuff (including these yummy home-toasted pecans)

7) Pour a little brownie batter over the dulce de leche and swirl with a butter knife

8) Pour the rest of the brownie batter over your "marbled" dulce de brownie mess, and pop in oven. Bake, baby, bake...


9) Try to remove from pan - just try! - by pounding, cutting edges with paring knife, sticking in freezer, popping back into warm oven...give it your best shot

10) Salvage what you can, scrape the bottom of the pan with a very stiff spatula, and grab your chai...'cuz it's messy brownie time




Lesson #1: If David says to line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then you had better line the pan!

Compare mine...
...to David's:
This man knows what he's doing! (photo courtesy of DavidLebovitz.com)


Lesson #2: If your brownies look like cr*p and, no matter how tasty, are therefore not suitable to feed to colleagues, make Dulce de Leche Pecan Brownie ICE CREAM! The best and final solution to an otherwise sad and arduous baking affair.

~

...Sorry, it didn't last long enough to get a photo shoot in. But I do have the recipe for you:

- Allow vanilla ice cream to warm on your counter for 5-10 minutes, crumble your crumbly brownies over top, and stir, stir, stir

- Return to freezer, allow to cool for 30-45 minutes, then stir, stir, stir

- You'll have a great NON-industrial food product to serve as a simple dessert after a simple meal (e.g. bean soup, zucchini rounds, and homemade olive foccacia bread) that your friends will mistake for something BandJ dreamed up on their latest Unilever-sponsored galactic-sugar-shroom trip. Yum!