I am a big fan of oatmeal and always have been.   It was the quintessential breakfast on a cold midwestern morning before we trekked out into the snow to walk to school.  Yes, I walked to school.  Every day.  From the tender age of six.  The joys, or tribulations, of small town living.  

My grandmother fixed oatmeal for us.  She cooked it until it was thick and dense and you had to force it off the wooden spoon.  It stuck to your ribs.  Add a healthy dose of sugar and some milk and we were off to the races.  When I was old enough to drive but had to first shovel the driveway, it helped with that too!  

My husband’s favorite part of the day was waking up with our daughter and having breakfast together (God rest his soul – I loved that extra hour of sleep every day).  He was not, however, much of a cook so he took the instant variety route and made her brown sugar microwaveable oatmeal in the morning.  If it wasn’t oatmeal it was instant grits.  (Grimace).  But that is a story for another day.  To this day, I can’t eat instant oatmeal and my now 17 year old still doesn’t cotton to my rib sticking variety.   You will find old fashioned oats reigning supreme over and above the sad packets of microwave oatmeal.   Puny little things they are.  

But, instead of posting about a bowl of oatmeal, I decided to make Spicy Oatmeal Crisps to get another recipe in for National Oatmeal Month.   I tried these…. mostly because they had oatmeal.  : )   But I was pleasantly surprised by this cookie.  They are thin and labeled a crisp but I found them to be crisp around the edges and soft and moist inside.  To me, a perfect combination.  You get a bit of crunch from the edges and then that nice soft cookie and then you are hit with a bit of crunchy oatmeal.   And the spices in this cookie are just divine.  If the allspice, nutmeg and clove weren’t enough to give you a zing, you get that hint of black pepper when the cookie is finished.  A nice lingering stay with you for a few minutes taste.  Try these.  You will like them.     

SPICY OATMEAL CRISPS   from Cooking Light

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp grated whole nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup packed brown sugar

5 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350. 

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, salt, cloves and black pepper in a bowl.

Place brown sugar, butter and vanilla in a second bowl. Beat at medium speed with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Add egg and beat well.  Stir in flour mixture and oats.

Drop by level tablespoons about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets lined with a silpat or sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until crisp.  Cool on pans for about 2 minutes to firm up.  Remove and cool on wire racks.    Makes about 24 cookies.

Biscotti is a delectable treat whose name is a bit of a misnomer to us Americans.   The root names stems from “bis” and “cotto” meaning more than once and cooking, respectively.  But it is also a generic term Italians use for various cookies both soft and hard.   The world’s love affair with this cookie has resulted in a universal understanding that a biscotti is a twice baked cookie.   

When I made biscotti for the first time, I was amazed that the simple act of baking,  cooling, slicing and baking for a second time didn’t result in a burned mess.  A baking miracle in my mind.   I had tried putting cookies and cakes back in the oven without success.   That second bake doesn’t make the cookies inedible with burnt edges?   Why no.  Surprisingly, it enhances the cookie and gives it that tell tale snap when broken in two.   Why is that?   I am no baking expert but think the minimal amounts of fat in the dough are the key.  The cookies are dry to begin with but this second bake causes the moisture to be drawn out even further.  Secondly, the denseness of the dough allows this to happen without causing the cookie to burn.     

From the time explorers sailed the high seas, biscotti  were a part of their rations.  Necessity is the mother of invention after all.   Long voyages.  No refrigeration.  Biscotti scented with herbs, spices, candied fruit or nuts could stop a mutiny.  Well, they aren’t that good but they did serve a useful purpose.  Today a batch of biscotti will last several weeks in an airtight container so a little effort goes a long way.

Keys to successful biscotti are few:  hold back a gasp as you are mixing the dough and trust that it will come together.  Resist the urge to add additional flour when shaping into a log.  Cool completely before cutting the biscotti into slices and bake for an adequate period of time for the second bake to ensure crispness and that expected snap when you break them.

We created a Chocolate Nut Biscotti in our Italian Chocolate class which I discovered in Chocolate Epiphany.  Yum!

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar

grated zest of one orange

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp anise seed  (if you can’t find anise seed you can certainly omit.  It adds a slight hint of licorice but is still delicious without.)

1 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

Combine the butter, sugar and orange zest and beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until blended.

In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and anise seed until well combined. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until half combined.  Add the nuts and beat until everything is just combined.  The dough will be sticky.

Dust a work surface with flour and put the dough on it.  Shape the dough into a log and lightly roll into a log approximately 12 inches long and three inches wide.  Transfer to the prepared sheet and baking for 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow the biscotti to cool to room temperature on the baking sheet.

When cool, cut the log into 1/2 inch wide slices and place the slices back on the baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes and remove from the oven.  The biscotti will crisp up as they cool.  When completely cool, store in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.  Good luck with this part…. they never last that long at our house!