Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Dear diary,

Christmas is approaching, and I think it is time to make festive biscotti!

Festive because of the green color of pistachios and the red color of the cranberries.

Double-baked goodies, biscotti are italian cookies best served with a cup of coffee.

I made mine today, and I still enjoy the smell from the freshly baked batch in my kitchen...

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup pistachios
1 cup dried cranberries
zest from 1 lemon


In a large bowl, we stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest.

We whisk the eggs in a separate bowl...

And add them to the sugar-flour mixture.

We continue to mix the ingredients until we have a sticky dough. 

We chop the cranberries and the pistachios and add them to the dough.

We split the dough in 2 parts and create 2 logs on a floured surface.
We transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes in a 350F preheated oven.

After the first 25 minutes bake, we let the logs cool.
Then, we slice them on an angle and move into a baking sheet again.

We bake the biscotti again for 5-6 minutes on each side.

It was the first time I ever made biscotti and I was surprised that they were so easy to make!
I will definitely experiment with different ingredients, and I'll buy a couple of huge glass jars to store them.

Happy holidays!

Yours,
Jennoula

Apple Crumble Pie

Dear diary ,

it's been a long time. But this time, I come back with something fresh!
A video-recipe for my favorite Apple Crumble Pie!
I love food recipe videos; I think it's the best way to show a recipe step-by-step.
So, here I am! 

I hope you enjoy! 

Yours,
Jennoula

Spinach pie for the Christmas table

Dear diary,

I told you I'd be back with holiday recipes!

I made this spinach pie yesterday, in about 30 minutes. It is very simple to make, but this twist in the appearance makes is look very detailed and sophisticated (if I can use this for a humble spinach pie!)

I am not taking any credits for the idea. This is all coming from one of my favorite blogs Ana's Italian chips. In her blog you'll find more pictures showing step by step how to make this sunflower-like pie.

(I just found out that Ana was inspired by Paola's beautiful blog)

I used two pie crusts, one for the bottom, and one for the top (the same that you buy to make an apple pie or quiche).

For the filling I went with my grandma's traditional greek recipe:

• spinach (sauteed for a couple of minutes)
• 1 egg
• green onion
• dill
• a lot of feta cheese
• bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper

I've seen my grandma making the spinach pie filling a thousand times, and I've always admired the way she weights the ingredients on her hand... 

I did exactly the same yesterday!

I combined all ingredients for the stuffing together and set aside.

I placed the first crust on a baking pan and spread the filling on it.

I left no space between the center and the borders and it worked just fine too. 

I covered it with the second crust and attached the two crusts together with a fork.

I then put a small glass in the center of the pie-sun and pressed gently.

With the glass as a guide and with a sharp knife Ι cut the pieces around the glass, leaving approximately 2cm distance, and then turned each piece 90 degrees up.

My grandma always brushes the top of the pie with olive oil. I did the same and that's how the pie got its beautifully golden crisp color...

I baked the pie for 45 minutes in 370F/190C.

It was very tasteful, brought back memories from home...

I think I'll make it again for my family for the Christmas table! It definitely has the "wow" factor!

Until later!

Yours,

Jennoula

Pike Place Market - Seattle part 5

Dear diary,

Pike Place Market was my second favorite place to be in Seattle (My absolute favorite was the Public Library!)

Pike Place Market is one of the oldest public farmer's market, running since 1907. It is built on the edge of a hill and has many levels full of bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, tourists shops, book stores, fresh produce vendors, flower shops and many more!

The whole "Pike Place" neighborhood is a vibrant community of famous shops, like the very first Starbucks place, the Beecher's handmade cheese shop, the famous Piroshky Piroshky russian bakery, and so many more that I cannot even recall...

See the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables...

In the market you get to choose from so many fish and seafood vendors, and buy the famous Dungeness Crab or Pacific oysters!

In the world famous Pike Place Fish Market you can see the fish "flying" in front of you; one attraction that started in 1986, when right before bankruptcy the fish market owner and employees decided to change their way of doing business. So now, you can see fishmongers throwing fish that customers have purchased, before they are wrapped. Buying fish in the Pike Place Fish Market can be fun, and you may also end up getting photographed very close to a huge fish, like the lady in the photo below!

Flowers everywhere! Beautiful colorful bouquets are all around you when you visit the market!

The gum wall is a famous but very disgusting corner in the Pike Place Market...

See for yourselves...

Here's the very first Starbucks shop that opened in 1971.

And below, I'm in line to get the creamiest mac and cheese I've ever tasted at Beecher's.

Luckily, Beecher's can also be found in New York, in the Flatiron district.

Around the Pike Place neighborhood I found a cute umbrella store!
Can you spot Van Gogh's Starry Night in the photo below?

Steps away from the Pike Place Market, very close to the first Starbucks shop, I found a vintage store called Antiques at Pike Place. I visited it at least three times, each time trying to explore as many corners as possible... See for yourselves the magic of an older era!

That's all from my Seattle visit! Well, I definitely have more to show and share, but I want to start getting back to my kitchen after this long break!

Will be back with desserts!

Yours,
Jennoula