TWD: Rewind

Butterscotch pudding sounds interesting to me and at some point I will definitely make it but this week I went for the "rewind" option instead. I was in the last group to join TWD (better late than never) and this means that I have a lot of options for rewinding! I read a lot of the TWD posts before I got the nerve to join the group. It sounded like such a great idea -- to bake through this fantastic cookbook and read about all of the different permutations that an individual recipe can have. In my short time as a TWD-er, I have been amazed at the immense creativity found in this group of bakers! I was nervous about joining because I live by myself now and what on earth am I going to do when I have to bake a cheesecake, just for lil' 'ole me?! But then I figured out that friends and neighbors are great for little problems like that. Anyway, I joined and I've had the best time!

Lenox Almond Biscotti is the recipe that convinced me that I needed to join TWD. I don't really like biscotti and I'd never had the urge to make it but I remember reading the posts and I saw all of the different varieties that came out of this one recipe. Oh my goodness, I emailed Laurie right then and there and asked could I pretty please join TWD? So, for my rewind this week I'm offering my seasonal take on Lenox Almond Biscotti, Lenox Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti. These debuted to rave reviews from my very picky grandfather and my domestic goddess Aunt Kathy so I know that they're good.

• I used vanilla extract rather than almond extract because I thought that the almond flavor would overwhelm the pistachios and cranberries in the biscotti.

• I dipped the finished biscotti in white chocolate and dredged them in festive sprinkles and I thought that the outcome was great.

I should note, I made cherry Lenox Almond Biscotti a couple of weeks ago in D.C. and I loved it. I loved the flavor, I loved everything about it. And I even took pictures as I started the process because I was going to use that for a future post. However, I hit a little SNAFU that squelched my desire to photo document (also, I was just really busy at the time and didn't have time). I made my logs of dough about 10" long by 3 or 4" wide thinking that I could have really pretty long biscotti like you see in coffee shops and at the store. Well, let me tell you, it was a nice little reminder to me that a) Dorie knows what she's doing and b) FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. Those sweet, beautiful, uniform logs of dough spread like gangbusters in the oven and I had a devil of a time getting them to cook through. Forget about cutting them and the 2nd round of baking. I ended up with biscotti hunks that were delicious (and I ate them and loved them) but I knew that I was going to try the recipe again, this time following the directions, when I got to Houston. I have to say, I much prefer the flavor of the cherry almond biscotti that I made with the almond extract to these cranberry pistachio. But, I like almonds and cherries a lot so that's probably why. They're both fantastic and I had a blast making them.

You can find Dorie's recipe for Lenox Almond Biscotti on pages 141-143 of Baking From My Home to Yours.