Oh.
No, really, oh. Oh as in “Oh my, these brownies” and “Oh damn, these brownies.” Oh as “Oh I can’t believe this recipe is so amazing” and “Oh there goes any bit of self control I had.”
Get the picture?
You can roll your eyes a bit when you say “Oh”. It helps.
Even though I don’t claim to have the world’s largest sweet tooth and go for salty over sweet most days, I can’t help but claim this brownie recipe as one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Because to me, brownies seem like the perfect treat in theory. Chocolately, studded with fun things like nuts or fruit, small and compact and enough to satisfy thanks to their rich nature. But sometimes, well, you can’t help but feel let down sometimes when you bite into a brownie that’s dry, too moist or not moist enough, tastes like a mix or worse, doesn’t resemble a brownie at all.
Growing up with an Italian grandmother, desserts usually meant full-bodied, booze-spiked, often savory treats including tiramisu, 
, I now know how to make Swedish Pepparkakor (spicy gingerbread cookies), Sandbakkels (miniature butter cookies shaped into a cup and filled with jam or cream), and Spritz (classic Swedish butter cookies made with a
cookie press).
Biscotti comes from the Latin word biscoctus meaning ‘twice cooked, or baked.’ Baking them twice makes them dry, so they’re easy to store for long periods of time. This was highly advantageous at one point in time. Twice-baked breads were useful during long journeys and wars, and were a staple food of the Roman legion. Now, it’s simply a lovely left-over result of the original recipe that we’re still enjoying today. From the kitchens of the American Academy in Rome, ‘Biscotti’ is a very special cookbook, a small love letter to one of Italy’s most famous sweets.
A great book for entertaining and gift giving ideas. The recipes are broken down into type of cookie (drop, rolled, slice and bake, no-bake) with easy instructions and everyday ingredients that make baking these wonderful classic holiday treats a snap for regular bakers and newbies alike. The storing and shipping instructions are helpful as well for those who want to send their efforts to others as gifts. A holiday cookbook that’s sure to please.
