chocolate cherry biscotti — home, oh home.

A tilt-shift lens and the most beautiful city. The perfect combination and welcome home to British Columbia. One of the habits I’ve developed through travelling is to wake up in the morning and take a long walk around wherever I am, meandering through streets, delighting in the distinct smells of the place I find myself.

With the lens, the damp Vancouver streets I love become miniature. A single object is the focus, with the world around blurring and fading in to indistinguishable colors. Similar to what happens when I wake early to breathe the fresh morning air of my city.

It was almost as if the VCC came out just to welcome me back. In the perfect setting — a historical church.

With marvelous food, and smiles abounding (even through the terrible service) we celebrated my return at the Naam Restaraunt.

With such sweet tidings, I embarked upon making my mother’s Christmas presents for her co-workers and friends. Another means of paying my rent.  Chocolate and cherries are often placed together in the dessert world. The strong taste of cherries doesn’t get overpowered by the richness of chocolate, rather, they compliment each other perfectly. Both full of antioxidants and encasing them in biscotti form creates a delicious dessert that is also low-fat. Swap out the dark or milk chocolate for white chocolate, creating a more visually dynamic dessert.

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cups sugar

1 tbl butter, melted

3 eggs

1 tbl vanilla extract

1 cup dark or milk chocolate

1 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt in to a bowl. Mix together the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

Mix together the flour, or dry, mixture with the sugar, or wet, mixture until completely incorporated. Add the chocolate and cherries to the mix and stir again until they are evenly distributed.

Dip your hands in warm water – this keeps the dough from sticking when handling it. Divide the dough in to two parts. Place on the baking sheet and form them in to two logs, 4-inches wide and 1-inch long, at least 2-inches apart.

Bake the logs for 30-35 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the biscotti in to ½ inch thick slices, slicing on a diagonal. Place the slices back on the sheet and insert them back in to the oven. Bake them for 20 minutes, turning them over in between.

Pray. Eat. Enjoy being home, and being home with dessert accents.