Mid January Freeze

We are in the middle of a cold snap and I find myself wanting to huddle by a hot oven bake everything.

With that as my motivation I finally got around to playing with my recipe for chestnut flour cookies. I call it 'my' recipe because I could not find a grain free version of chestnut cookies anywhere. So I made one up based on an old biscotti recipe I got somewhere, perhaps that Italian cookbook translation...

Chestnut flour is great for grain free baking if you like the taste. This is one of the few flours I do store in the freezer, I find that the flour can go off quickly.

As always there are many ways to tweak this recipe, I know I am not done with it. You may need to adjust the dry ingredients if your eggs are smaller. It's possible to swap the butter out with coconut oil, switch the maple syrup to honey, add nuts or chocolate or stevia to make them sweeter... but please enjoy them however you make them.

Chestnut Biscotti

Mix together

1/4 c soft butter
1/4 c maple syrup
2T almond extract
2 eggs [I used 'jumbo' ones]

Stir in 

1 1/2 c chestnut flour
1/2 c almond flour
1t baking soda
1t salt

Chill the dough if it is too soft for you to handle.
Divide dough in half and make two flattened logs of dough, ten to twelve inches long, on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Remove dough logs to rack to cool and turn over down to 300.

Fifteen minutes later slice logs up into short slices and lay them down on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake about ten minutes then flip slices over and bake about another ten minutes. 
They should be dry and crunchy. Typical biscotti. 

If needed immediately hide half of them so that the people you live with do not eat them all the first day. Cozy wishes out to all.



2013! It's here.

It's 12th night tonight [starting from Solstice] and Yule is almost over. The holidays have been wonderful and my month long bout of the flu is wrapping up and I couldn't be more delighted.  I am looking forward to all the joys and gentle lessons of the new year and thanking 2012 for it's many sweetnesses.

I have been an 'anti-clutter' person since April of 2002 but it's a cycle like so much in life. Right now I am in high gear sorting and giving/throwing out stuff. It may have been prompted by holiday shopping or perhaps by incoming presents. I am having a blast and feeling so much lighter.

Related;  I decided to do Project 333 officially for January - March of this year. This has made my closet so wide open and spacious, I sometimes open the door to gaze in it. I am at 27 pieces but I did not count my snow boots or some of my necessary winter weather accessories. I do not have them by choice after all. There may be something in the laundry that I want to add, so we'll see where I end up for this three month period.

I also did not count my jewelry. I cull my accessories often and only have what fits in my hanging organizer but I don't have an interest in limiting myself to 6 pieces for 3 months. Right now it is a joy to decide which piece I want to wear on a given day with a plain top. Although I have had years where I have worn the same stud earrings for months or limited my choice in some other way so that may happen again in the future.

Also this concentrated decluttering is moving many things onto new homes. I may use the spare room as a meditation space this winter. We'll see how it shakes out.