Tags: 12daysofchristmascookies Chocolate Christmas cookies Holiday Nuts & Seeds Sweet Tooth
The older I get the more I become exactly like my Grandma Shirley. She’s been quite an influence in my life, and I don’t think I really understood just how much until the last year or so. I’ll say or do something, and Adrian will smile and give me a look…that look tells me my “Shirley” just came out again.
My grandma was raised on a farm in Missouri, and while she’s lived in California for most of her life, she’s still very Southern. Phrases she uses, habits she has, and even specific things she instilled in my mama all scream “Southern!” I’ve only ever known the California Shirley, but the more time I spend in the South and the more exposure I have to Southerners, the more I realize my beach-loving California grandma is Southern in her bones.
“Bless their little pea-pickin’ heart”
“Too big for his britches”
“Pitchin’ a hissy fit”
“Snake in the grass”
“Quiet as a church mouse”
Wilder than a March hare”
“I wouldn’t walk across the street to piss on him if he was on fire”
These are just some of the nicer phrases my grandma taught me. (I can’t repeat most others!!) There are other things she’s said that I’ll never forget as long as I live.
Funny story: we were out shopping one time and she had a whole load of stuff she’d found. She was sorting through it—knowing full well she couldn’t buy half of it—when she sighed, looked up at me and my mom and said, “I wish I’d been born rich instead of so d&*#$ good-lookin’!!” We died laughing!! We laughed over that one for a while…we STILL laugh over that one!
Another thing about Grandma Shirley is she LOVES sweets!! She eats more sweets than anyone I know…and I know a lot of sweet eaters. She loves ice cream, pastries, chocolate…you name it, she’s got it stashed somewhere in the house. We went out to eat one time and someone ordered a slice of chocolate cake but couldn’t finish it. She wrapped that cake in a napkin and put it in her purse…she was not about to let a perfectly good piece of chocolate cake go to waste!! Unfortunately, she forgot it was in there! A week or so later she discovered it smashed and dried up at the bottom of her purse…there were coins and all sorts of debris glued by chocolate cake to the bottom of her purse. We teased her relentlessly about that one.
The point of all this is…this post is for Grandma Shirley. She buys biscotti by the bucket and eats a couple every morning with her coffee. Another habit I’ve inherited from Gram.
Pistachio & Dark Chocolate Biscotti
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 Tbsp butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cup pistachios, given a rough chop
HOW TO:
Preheat oven to 350°
In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the olive oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Using a wooden spoon, fold in the pistachios.
Split the dough in half and form two logs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten them out into two 1-inch thick rectangles.
Bake 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, slice until 1-inch” strips, turn each piece on it’s side and bake 8 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 8 minutes.
Let them cool completely before dipping in melted dark chocolate
*Pour chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave. Remove and stir every 30 seconds until smooth
