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

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