Hello from London! It is hard to believe, but after much
planning (not enough) and a lot of insanity (due to the lack of planning), my
life in London has begun.
Here is my new residence! (at least for the next 3 months until my boyfriend and dog come to join me)
I’ve been here for about a week and a half now and have
almost completed my first full week of work! Everyone has been very, very nice
and even though it has been a bit overwhelming with how much I am trying to
absorb in a short amount of time, it has been nice to feel like I am an
essential part of a team again.
The hardest thing, I think, is that when I am really
stressed out I bake – or cook – but mostly bake, and that has been fairly
difficult. It has been a long, long time since I have had to start a pantry
from scratch and an even longer time since I have been almost completely
equipment-less.
The gentleman I am lodging with is the very definition of a
consummate bachelor. (I found a pot of cream in his fridge that was a few months
old and, according to his daughters, his mom still cooks a lot of his meals). Needless to say, there is no standing mixer in his
kitchen, or cookie sheets, or even any real mixing bowls. I anticipated a bit – bringing my toolkit from the home stocked full
of whisks, spatulas, my knives, and a scale – but what I didn’t anticipate was
my sheet pans not actually fitting in his oven.
What this meant was, for my first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe
in the UK, I had to do much, much more advanced preparation than normal. My
scale broke, so I had to go find a kitchen shop that sold digital scales (I
hadn’t thought to bring cup measurements). Thankfully a friend here gave me a
cookie sheet that she doesn’t use. It only took two grocery stores to find
hazelnuts (the ricotta for some homemade gnocchi was much harder).
So, after many, many bus and tube trips around my little
area of northwest London, I managed to make the biscotti. And they have been
very well received. Both the gentleman and his 23 year old daughter who is
visiting have enjoyed multiple pieces. And even though I don’t normally eat
very much that I bake, I have eaten a few pieces myself with cups of tea at
work.
I think I can safely say that these are easy to make, given
that I could accomplish them even with almost no equipment. Though I will say
that peeling the hazelnuts was a bit time consuming.
I didn’t add any alcohol – I wasn’t going to go out and buy
hazelnut liquor just for 2 tablespoons – and I think it actually helped cut the
sweetness in the finished cookies, though they still did taste very, very
nutty. Also, for fun, I drizzled some of the cookies with some 70% melted
chocolate. Not too much (didn’t want to dip) but I thought it would add a
little more dimension to the flavor.
If you would like full recipe, please head over to
HomemadeAndWholesome or BakingAndBoys! (who also fantastically drizzled them in chocolate)
Next week, a catch up recipe! Probably the Hungarian Shortbread…
and a bit more on London life.
