this may not be a Christmas-y picture, but it is a vivid depiction for today’s topic
If you asked me what my single most coveted and all-time favorite individual food item is, I would not hesitate to say it’s honey. Anyone familiar with me, this blog and my travels around knows that I go about my days coddling the bees wherever I am and tasting their offerings like some obsessed fiend. Honey, in my mind, is the most bee-utiful gift ever – from the bees and, might I just suggest to you, as a gift for Christmas to your best friends and family. A prized jar of honey should never be underestimated in its value.
Back in 2013, I wrote a post about the Welsh Heather Honey from Wales that I purchased in Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly. I spent many an hour lurking, and I do mean lurking around this store, ogling all the gorgeous offerings from the bottom floor up. The one prize I did come home with, not the Herend Tea Set with the lavender butterflies on it, 🙁 was a couple of jars of this prize. Before Ryan came home from his semester abroad, I sent him back for several more jars. I told him not to board the plane without them!
this honey, is all documented by batch!
Now, to you, honey may just be a condiment for your tea or something you grab off the supermarket shelf. No, no, no, no. This particular honey, when dabbed upon your palate, will leave its ethereal tingle on your tongue for hours. And, I kid you not. You will walk around in your day and realize that that floral remembrance is from across the ocean and it will make you imagine you are trekking through the moors in Wuthering Heights (Yorkshire not Wales) but you get the picture. And, Welsh Heather Honey is considered to be a super food like some other honeys like Manuka.
Anyway, all of that is a long introduction for the topic of the day which is cookies and Christmas treats made with honey. There are many Italian cookie recipes with honey to be sampled, including the famous Struffoli and Ribbons. These two involve an ample drizzle for finishing. Today’s recipe is a little different.
yes it is! and, fascinatingly, the color of the honey has changed toward the heather from whence it came 🙂 Harvest September 2012
Well anyway, here is an updated recipe for Biscotti Fiorentini that I found in the book, European Cookies for Every Occasion by Krisztina Maksai. I actually like this iteration better than the traditional version – I think it is not only more physically evocative, and, I like the way she has “designed” the cookie. It’s on my list for my cookie-baking soirée with a friend for next week. I’ve added the orange zest because I think it’s the perfect compliment for the cookie and the chocolate, of course.
photo courtesy Krisztina Maksai
Florentine Peaks – adapted from recipe courtesy Krisztina Maksai
cookie dough:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 medium egg yolks
1 tsp orange zest
topping:
1/3 cup candied cherries
1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey (use the absolute most fragrant, floral honey you can find)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest
2 2/3 cups sliced almonds
decoration:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
for the cookie dough:
Combine the dough ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer and, using the dough hook, knead until the dough is smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Form the dough into a small loaf. Wrap the loaf in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out thinly, about 1/8″ thick. Using a fluted round cookie cutter, cut the dough into about 36 cookies.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and carefully transfer the cookies to the sheet with a pastry spatula. Pre-bake cookies for 5 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, leaving the oven on, and place the baking sheet on a trivet.
for the topping:
Cut the cherries into tiny pieces. Combine the butter, sugar and honey in a nonstick pot and cook it on the stove, over medium heat, stirring for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture is golden brown. Add the heavy cream, increase the heat to high, and boil the mixture for 2 minutes. Lower the heat, add the cherries and almonds, and cook them for 3 minutes until the filling thickens. Stir in the orange zest. Lightly oil a cooling rack (with a tasteless oil such as grapeseed) and set it aside.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the filling onto each pre-baked cookie. Bake the cookies a second time for 7-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Be sure to not let the cookies turn brown. Carefully remove them from the baking sheet with the pastry spatula and place them on the oiled cooling rack to cool completely.
Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl over a bain marie. Do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Using a teaspoon, place a dollop of chocolate over the top of the cookie as shown. Let the cookies cool until the chocolate is firm.
Some day, like all of us, I will have to confront my legacy. I’m not upset though. Mine will read something like this, from my kids: My Mom stalked and delighted in her daily obsession with bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and flowers of (most) all kinds. She ran around happily with her camera………..
Enjoy!