Ginger Chocolate Buckwheat Biscotti

I initially planned to post this biscotti recipe in the fall two years ago but things got sidetracked and thoughts drifted away. Although the original recipe came from my Italian chef twin sister years ago, I had been adding, subtracting and once again adding unique ingredients along the way. Eventually the final result of these experimentations settled on a few pieces of paper featuring the below ingredients, left nestled in between pages of my recipe journal for quite some time.

Warm heat from the ginger and the distinctive flavour from the buckwheat together with anise make the biscotti a welcome addition to chilly autumn afternoons. All you need is to make sure you keep your pantry well-stocked, as this recipe is quick and easy for unexpected baking cravings. For a more wintery presentation, I sometimes add dry cranberries.

Ginger Chocolate Buckwheat Biscotti


Makes about 15 pieces
1 cup unbleached white flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
½ cup blanched almond meal
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons anise seed, ground
1/3 cup salted butter, room temperature *if you are using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar
2 free range eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, cut into ¼ inch pieces
1/3 cup dark chocolate, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup pecans, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Place the flour, almond meal, baking powder, cardamom and anise seed in a bowl, and whisk well. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy and add the sugar a small amount at a time. Beat well and scrape the side of the bowl as necessary to ensure all the ingredients are well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, and beat to combine.

Add 1/3 of the dry mixture and stir on medium speed. Continue to stir and add the other 1/3. Reduce the speed, add the rest of the mixture and continue until well mixed.

Stir in the ginger, chocolate, pecans and coconut. Mix thoroughly until combined.

On a baking sheet lined with a piece of parchment paper, spread the dough into a rectangle shape, about ¾ inch thickness.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes. Take the baked dough out of the oven and let cool for 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 300F.

Then gently cut the dough into strips, about ¾ inch each, using a serrated knife. Bake cut side down for 30 minutes, flipping half way through.

Let cool completely on a rack. Store in an airtight container.

Quinoa and Poached Egg Salad

quinoa_poached_egg_salad2

One of things that I make sure that I keep well stocked in my pantry is quinoa: red and white to be precise. On lazy weekend mornings, I often fail to plan to have a good loaf of bread available. So, with a well-stocked pantry, I can come up with something else good and hearty; best of all, it’s healthier!

With a few steps into the garden, I created this always perfect, cozy breakfast. Oh, I’m so in awe of these little arugula and spinach leaves that have been doing so much on our plates everyday. Now that they are about to end their season, this dish became a great homage to these little but powerful garden gems. I also used baby beets that had to be thinned. Can’t wait for summer vegetables to come!

If you thought from the photos that we were having a gorgeous sunny morning, ha, I managed to trick you with the artificial light. It was actually so extremely dark and crazily pouring rain outside that I had to turn the fireplace on, LOL!

quinoa2quinoa_poached_egg_saladsalad_leavescucumber_water2quinoa_[oached_egg_salad3

Quinoa and Poached Egg Salad

I used what’s growing in my garden, but any salad leaves should work. Feel free to experiment with it. As for the cheese, I had only the goat variety, but would’ve loved to use something stronger, like good quality cheddar. For best results, make sure you toast the sunflower seeds. Don’t skimp on this step because it completes this dish nicely. If you don’t know how to poach eggs, I found a dedicated article here.

Serves 3 to 4

1 cup quinoa (red, white or a mixture of both, like I did in this recipe)

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter

Lots of mushrooms, sliced

2 scallions, roughly chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 cup mixture of baby spinach, beets and arugula leaves, rinsed and drained well

2/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled

2/3 cup or more sunflower seeds, lightly toasted

Poached eggs; use desired amount

Rinse the quinoa under running water while rubbing it together in a sieve.

Place the quinoa in a small saucepan or pot with the stock and salt, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer until the stock is no longer visible, for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, sauté the mushrooms and scallions with the butter in a small pan over medium high heat until softened. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Combine the quinoa and the mushroom mixture in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Poach eggs and set aside. When eggs are ready, add the salad leaves, goat cheese and sunflower seeds to the quinoa mixture and stir to combine. In this way, baby greens will wilt nicely but not overly.

Serve the quinoa in individual bowls and top with the poached eggs. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

cucumber_water

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

rhubarb_muffins

It’s getting a bit difficult for me to create yet another rhubarb recipe after having already included several in my blog. Nonetheless, I came up with this cornmeal muffin idea in a delightfully whimsical manner.

I knew I wanted to cook some rhubarb from the garden so I started daydreaming and burrowing my face into the fur of one of my Labradors. If you are a dog owner, you know what I’m talking about! “Oh, you smell like cornmeal behind your ear…” Yes, the light bulb went off! Another strange coincidence was when I opened my food recipe journal and the first thing I saw was this old wrinkled handwritten recipe that read “Blueberry cornbread muffins.” I’m not kidding you here. It must be a 12 year-old-recipe because I used to hand copy recipes from food magazines just after I came to Canada for the sake of improving my English! I don’t remember ever having baked it though. Haha, it’s really funny… it appeared at just the right time to give me a clue as to what recipe I should share next.

rhubarb_muffins3rhubarbcornmeal cream_cheeserhubarb_muffin_mixturemint_tea3rhubarb_muffins2mint_tea2mint_tea peony

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

Makes 12 small muffins

2 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces

6 tablespoons cane sugar

½ package (250g) cream cheese, room temperature and cut into cubes

¼ cup sugar

1¾ cups cake flour (I used this instead of all-purpose because it ran out)

¾ cup cornmeal (fine textured)

2/3 cup cane sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/3 cups 2% milk

1 large whole egg plus 2 egg whites

2 tablespoons canola oil

Place rhubarb and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium high heat, cook to dissolve sugar and continue until just before the rhubarb loses its shape. Strain the excess juice for another use (see below). Let cool.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda well in a bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  Then, pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Mix just until all the ingredients are moist. Add the rhubarb and lightly mix with a spatula.

Pour the batter into a muffin cup-lined tin and spoon a big dollop of the cream cheese into each muffin cup. Bake until golden brown, for about 20 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. Let cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate.

 

Mint Tea

A bunch of mint leaves

Hot water

Wash the mint and cut into 1 inch pieces. Place the mint in a teapot (a jar in my case), pour hot water over top and steep for a few minutes. Strain into individual cups.

 

Rhubarb Refresher

Ice cubes

Extracted rhubarb juice (from above recipe)

Dash of lemon juice

Carbonated water or club soda and/or rum!

A sprig of mint leaves

Freestyle to accommodate whatever one’s heart desires.

rhubarb_refresher