Twice each day, as I take my
first sip of tea, a low roar fills my ears. It’s like there was a conch placed
close to the side of my face and I could hear the sound of the sea through it. That
is indeed unusual. As I got thinking about it, I felt what I was experiencing
perhaps was this - this cup of tea is
meditation, a clarifying potion, a sort of prayer. So then, George Orwell was
probably right when he said that a good cup of tea can make you feel wiser,
braver and more optimistic. As I gave it more thought, I wondered what would
complement an experience as revitalizing as drinking tea. Surely, a biscuit. But
not any biscuit. It’d have to be special.
And so I rummaged through recipes and discovered Biscotti.
Now, you don’t need biscotti, scones
or cake with your tea. But it helps. I had never tried making biscotti before
but last week I had this urge to have something with my tea and so I thought I
would give biscotti a try. Now what are biscotti, really?
Biscotti are oblong-shaped
biscuits that originated in Italy. They are twice baked, dry, crunchy and can
be stored for a long time. The word biscotti means ‘twice baked or
cooked’. Traditional biscotti dough is
exclusively composed of flour, sugar, eggs and nuts. There is no butter or fat.
I followed a great recipe from Joy
of Baking and made mine with chocolate and hazelnuts.
But what inspires me most about
Biscotti is that they are a labor of love, like art. They are not your average cookies.
Biscotti requires craft, deftness and precision. To begin with, the dough is
extremely sticky. Then it needs to be shaped into a log and baked until firm.
After a short cooling period, the log is sliced into diagonal slices and baked
again to draw out the moisture, thus producing a crisp, dry textured cookie
that has a long shelf life. Now you are only limited by your imagination when
it comes to what you want to add to these: dried fruits, different varieties of
nuts, seeds, spices, etc. Biscotti are also frequently found iced with melted
chocolate or other frostings, and topped with nuts and even coloured sprinkles.
And so I made my biscotti and it
greatly complemented my cup of tea. Which brings me to what this post is
probably really about, the unqualified joys of a really good cup of tea. Tea
with biscotti anyone?
