... three ... two ...

I'm staring down the barrel of the last day and a half of my pre-Berkeley life, and this might be goodbye, well, for a while. Or not. Being out of work for the past week has left me dazed and confused, and a little poorer (summer sales be damned) and chubbier (inspirational midday Food Network broadcasts... buttermilk fried onion rings a la Guy Fieri, anyone?). 

I don't really have any sweet nothings to share before my departure. Instead, I have a savory little something. 

Have you ever had your mind set on making something that you were sure you'd seen the recipe for on a specific page of a specific issue of a specific magazine? Well, I was quite sure yesterday, and spent the better part of 20 minutes searching for the recipe for these Parmesan-Pepper Biscotti yesterday. Finally I gave up and gave into the lure of epicurious.com's archive, and found it promptly, nowhere near when/where I was so sure I'd seen it. Dazed and confused, indeed!

The dough came together really easily, considering I only had about half the ingredients in half the required amount, and the other half in a "healthy" version. But even whole wheat flour and lactose-free, fat-free milk couldn't hold these babies back. 

They made the whole house smell like grilled cheese sandwiches, and brought me back to the days of yore when, just hours after her two teenage daughters and a husband determined to "lose 10 lbs" refused dinner, my mom would be coerced to share her makeshift Croque Monsieurs (white bread/cheddar cheese/deli ham popped into the toaster oven) with aforementioned dieters. 

I made half the batch, and it is plenty. I imagine it will taste great with soups, salads, wrapped in salami... but I've only managed as much as dunking them into a jar of cold tomato-basil pasta sauce while standing in pajamas in front of the open fridge door. I told you I've been dazed and confused. But this way I'm also (for the first time in a week, huzzah!) full. 

 

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Parmesan-Pepper Biscotti

Adapted from Gourmet, December 2006

(I wasn't even reading Gourmet in 2006!! ... but I digress.)

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups whole wheat flour (all-purpose is perfectly fine here)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3 large eggs

1/2 cup fat-free, lactose-free milk (if you've got whole milk, go nuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Whisk together flour, baking powder, 3/4-cup cheese, and pepper in a large bowl. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingers (I'm a finger gal) until mixture resembles course meal. Whisk the eggs with milk and, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the liquid for later use, add to flour mixture, combining until a soft dough forms. 

Divide the dough into two halves, and, either on a floured work surface or a large ungreased baking sheet, form each half into a slightly flattened 12-inch log (about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch high). Transfer logs to baking sheet if not there already, arranging them about 3 inches apart. 

Brush remaining egg/milk mixture over logs, sprinkle tops of logs evenly with remaining cheese and grind additional black pepper on top. Bake until the logs are golden and firm, about 25 minutes. Cool logs to warm on a rack, about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. 

Carefully transfer 1 warm log to a cutting board and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, in 1 layer on a baking sheet. Repeat with second log. Bake on one side until golden and crisp, about 20 minutes. Then flip biscotti and continue to bake, about 20 minutes, until second side is golden and crisp, too. Cool about 15 minutes. 

Biscotti can be stored up to two weeks in airtight container.