[Cookie 033] Cranberry-Pistachio Cornmeal Biscotti

Bonjour! Salut! J'ai vu Julie & Julia hier soir, et maintenant je suis francaise et tres heureuse--mais je parle la francaise tres mal. Man, I took 4 years of intense high school french, and NOW look at me. Or, rather, look at my poorly constructed sentences and laugh at me. Anyway, I loved the movie, obviously, and really got a kick out of Meryl Streep's performance. I kept trying to draw parallels between the Julie-Julia relationship and my Lizzie-Martha relationship, but really, they are very very different. For one, Julie's quest was much more extreme. For two, I don't necessarily idolize Martha (sorry, girlfriend!) like Julie does Julia.

But why am I talking about this movie? Especially when I'm about to discuss a cookie that is so quintessentially Italian: Cranberry-Pistachio Cornmeal Biscotti! Oh, I'll tell you why. Because one of the main things that the Julie & Julia movie stresses is that cooking can be hard. You can have meltdowns. Stuff doesn't always turn out like it does in the book. And after you're done freaking out, you should shrug it off, learn from your mistakes and move on.

So, this is where the biscotti recipe comes it. It was hard. Quite hard. Actually, to be fair, only one part of it was difficult, and the result was rather yummy--but it was a tad frustrating. But let's start at the beginning.

Dough, pre-baked log

The dough is made of both flour and yellow cornmeal--equal amounts of each--and then studded with chopped pistachios and dried cranberries. Obviously, they would make very nice Xmas cookies, if you celebrate said holiday, but even if you don't the cookie still is very pretty. So you mix up the dough, form it into a log and then demi-bake it until the dough gets golden and a little cracked. Then you have to slice it up into biscotti. This is when I freaked out.

Dough, demi-baked and uncut

A failed attempt at cutting the dough (sorry for the abominable photo

It just so turns out that slicing already crumbly dough that is filled with chunks of nuts and fruits is near impossible. Martha says to use a serrated bread knife, but the dough just crumbles apart as you saw through it. It wouldn't stay together for the life of it!! If it wasn't crumbly because of the crumbly nature of the dough, it was crumbling because the nuts and fruits are difficult to slice through. I ended up with a grand total of about 3 biscotti that held their shape. Fortunately, I could sorta mush the dough into place to get the cookies to stay together.

This is the best I could do!

In the end, they baked up nicely, but in my opinion weren't very biscotti like. Scones, more like it. But think about all the times you've had biscotti. It was hard, right? Like a brick! Or more like doorstop or something. Teeth-shattering and not so pleasant. These definitely weren't hard, but then again, maybe that means they weren't biscotti? I dunno, you can be the judge. Perhaps I should have formed the dough-log with more pressure and worked the dough more? Hmmm...whatever, I still have 2 more biscotti recipes, so I have time to master this cookie!

Okay, as for you, if you're up for a tricky little recipe, give it a go! The cornmeal is really yummy and they are rather purdy if you manage to cut the biscotti properly. But hear this: don't come complaining to me if you want to pull your hair out. Bon appetit! ...Or should I say Buon Appetito!

Cranberry-Pistachio Cornmeal Biscotti

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup chopped pistachios

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
2. Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar and mix until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture all at once; mix until just combined. Add lemon zest, cranberries, and pistachios and mix until combined.
3. Transfer dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pat into a log that is roughly 14 by 3 1/2 inches. Bake until firm, lightly browned, and slightly cracked on top, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack, about 15 minutes.
4. Transfer log to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut on the diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake cookies, rotating sheet halfway through, until they begin to brown at edges, 15 to 18 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 4.5/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 3/5
Tastiness: 4/5 (My parents adored them)
Attractiveness: 3.5/5
Is it worth it?: Hmm...if you've made biscotti and know something I don't, this is a good recipe! Otherwise, it's a little maddening to say the least!

{Pairings}
Drink: Coffee. Espresso? Cappuccino? Choose your poison...

Song: Handle with Care -- Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Activity: Reading poetry whilst wearing rectangular black framed glasses and a beret.