Leftovers biscotti!

Sometimes I end up with lots of little bags of dried fruits and nuts in the cabinet, left over from various baking and cooking projects. When I can't stand the clutter anymore, I make biscotti to use up all the little bits.

They're time consuming, but very easy to make, and they make the apartment smell so good!

My vanilla ones had dark chocolate chips, hazelnuts and dried cranberries.

The chocolate ones had macadamia nuts (there were only 10 or so left, so finding one in a cookie is like finding a golden nugget), walnuts, cranberries, white chocolate and dark chocolate.

Oh, and I used whole wheat flour, so they're almost healthy! Ha!

3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (regular all-purpose flour works great)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup sugar (I like the sweetness to come from the chocolate and fruit, so I use relatively little sugar)

2 teaspoons vanilla

Any additions that sound good to you. I add a little extra of everything, but 4 cups of nuts (any kind, preferably pre-toasted) and a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips are a good place to start.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 F

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with the yolks, vanilla and sugar with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.

Mix in the dry ingredients, then the chocolate, nuts and fruit.

Grease a sheetpan and shape the dough into 2 logs with floured hands. You're going to be slicing the logs later to make your biscotti, so again, any with and height that appeals to you is good!

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the logs start to turn golden.

Remove from the oven and let them cool, at least 30 minutes. Cut into slices with a serrated knife.

Lower oven temperature to 275 F. Bake the slices until golden and crunchy, another 30 minutes or so.

For the chocolate biscotti I replaced 1/2 cup of flour with cocoa powder.

Magical Roasted Red Pepper Dressing!!

This dressing is pure deliciousness! I hate roasted red peppers with their slimy, slippery texture, but when you throw them in the food processor with a little salt and pepper, some olive oil and balsamic vinegar they transform into something magical! Oh and don't forget fresh garlic!! I used 4 cloves with 5 red peppers, which made people run away every time I breathed out for the next 2 days. But it was tasty! Roasted garlic might have been a little milder andequally good.

It's good on salad, cooked vegetables, rice, potatoes....and probably almost anything you can come up with. Definitely going to be a condiment staple for us!

I used organic peppers from a jar and it was great, but if you have the time and patience to roast some in the oven, I bet you could get even more flavor out of the slick little guys!

Cupcake summer

I meant to make several fancy fruit and mousse cakes this summer, but whenever we're invited to parties I get requests for cupcakes. These are the last 2 kinds I made. The Mexican fiesta cupcakes were vegan chocolate and the ladybugs were lemon cake with lemon buttercream...my favorite summer flavor!