Fond Food Memories: Montepulciano and Abruzzo | Saffron Nutty Biscotti

copyright 2014 Art of Living,Primamedia,Inc/Maria Liberati
Montepulciano has still been on my mind..

and especially the cantucci biscotti  that we enjoyed with the Vin Santo produced there..but as the saying goes when in Abruzzo do as the Abruzzese do! (Well I think that is how they say it! or what I am trying to say is that since I am in Abruzzo now  I must do an Abruzzese version of these biscotti..so I have been tinkering and tinkering and finally came up with a recipe that uses the local ingredients here..with the help of my one and only!
These are really addictive, but eat them a day or two after they are baked, the flavors will astound you and you won’t be able to stop after just one..I think we have put on a pound or two just from eating these…
Saffron Nutty Biscotti
1 pound of flour
1 cup sugar
1 envelope of saffron dissolved in a tablespoon of warm water
4 ounces almonds whole
4 ounces hazelnuts whole
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
8 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate broken into bits
4 eggs
Place flour in bowl, make a well in center. Break 4 eggs and place inside well, whisk eggs, place in vanilla, baking powder, sugar.  Blend with electric mixer  till well blended. Then by hand fold in the nuts and chocolate pieces till well blended in.
Cover baking sheet with parchment paper, form 2-3 logs from the dough and place on parchment paper, back in an oven preheated to 350 for 30 minutes, then remove from oven cut into biscotti and bake again for 10-15 minutes till golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool.
*See you at
Cathedral Village in Pennsylvania
*For those in Lancaster/ York Pennsylvania I  will be doing a segment on Tailgating on FOX Channel 43 Morning News on September 26th at 7:40 AM
*Mercer County Italian American Festival  http://www.italianamericanfestival.com/
For event listing go to http://www.italianamericanfestival.com/culture.cfm
Fri. Sept 26th, 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM & Sat. Sept 27th, 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM, Mercer County Park,
1638 Old Trenton Road, book signing and sampling, in the Cultural Theater located in the
Heritage Pavilion on the festival grounds
*Tues. Oct 7th, 6 PM to 8 PM, Free Library of Philadephia – Andorra Branch, 705 E Cathedral Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128,
book signing & sampling
Free Library of Philadelphia – Andorra Branch http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=AND
For more recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays and Special Occasions:2nd edition