Siphon Coffee Brewing and Hazelnut Cinnamon Biscotti

Apparently when I was a kid, I thought that coffee was the last socially acceptable addiction, but thanks to a recent obsession (see also: dub music), now I get why.



One of the joys of living near the west coast hot spots is that the guys (it's always guys) who are into coffee take it to a flat-out ridiculous level of obsession. I went to Stumptown Annex in Portland last week, and while checking out their bean selection, I casually told the counter guy that I was just getting into coffee and was interested in knowing more about the broad flavor trends between the big global coffee-producers (Central America, Southeast Asia, Africa). Lord love him, but he was totally incapable of dumbing it down for me. He said that making those kind of generalizations would be like asking what "wine from Europe" was like.



So I'll be the first to admit that I don't really know anything about coffee: up until a few months ago, I didn't really drink much coffee at all. All that changed with the first cup of coffee I made with my siphon brewer (which I found, new in the box, at the Boise flea market for $10).



I'll admit, even if I didn't I love the process -- like my friend Trey says, it's coffee theater -- and appreciate the fact that it's a great justification for indulging my love for scientific glassware, brewing coffee this way would be a waste of time if it didn't make super good coffee. My little Hario didn't disappoint.



I could never explain the process as well as the impressively-produced little video below, but the point is that the water in the brewing chamber never reaches the boiling point, so most of the bitter compounds stay in the coffee. The result is a bright, floral flavor with lots of salty, caramel-y body. I just tried an Ethiopian varietal from Stumptown that actually tasted like raspberries. Another varietal from Kenya is described as having "notes of kiwi, cocoa, pineapple and raw sugar in a cup redolent of dried flowers."





Is it all psychosomatic? Why would it be for coffee and not for wine or scotch? Admittedly, all these flavors are really subtle (it is black coffee, after all) but the fact that I can taste even one or two of them is pretty exciting. And, my brewer and hand grinder are both from Japan. The New York Times would be proud. Next, I wanted to bake something to complement my labor of love, and guess what? Biscotti go really well with coffee!



This recipe from Baked is basically perfect. Warm cinnamon, creamy hazelnuts, semisweet chocolate, and black coffee? I made another recipe alongside these (white chocolate and dried cranberries with semolina flour), but they were so sad next to the world's best biscotti that I couldn't muster up the heart to take any good pictures of them. My best advice when making these is to use plenty of parchment paper. A paper sling makes transferring the dense dough much easier.




Hazelnut Cinnamon Biscotti

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 c sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 c AP flour
• 1 1/2 c blanched hazelnuts, toasted
• 1 3/4 c (10 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 egg white

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar in an electric mixture until the color is uniform and the mixture thick. Add the vanilla and beat for 5 seconds. Add the flour in two batches and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the hazelnuts and chocolate chips, and beat until just combined.
4. Turn the dough out onto parchment paper. Use a dough scraper to form into a log about 16" long, 3 1/2" wide, and 3/4" thick. Smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until firm but not browned. Cool for 10 minutes.
5. Lower the oven to 325 degrees F. While the log cools, whisk together the egg white and 2 Tsp of water and apply the egg wash to the top of the dough with a pastry brush.
6. Cut the log into 3/4" slices with a serrated knife. Lay the biscotti on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Jam Sandwiches

I have a confession to make -- I don't really like Christmas cookies. I love cutting them out, decorating them with my mom and sister, making the goopy colored frosting, but at the end of the day, they taste like straight butter and flour. I had given up on Christmas cookies until, on a whim, I opened up my Baking Illustrated cookbook and, lo and behold, I found the greatest Christmas cookies of all time: jam sandwiches.



It turns out the secret ingredients for the perfect sugar cookie are a) superfine sugar, b) two sticks of butter, and c) cream cheese. As always a stand mixer takes all of the guess work out of making these, and liberal use of parchment paper makes rolling/cutting/cleanup incredibly easy. Be sure to refrigerate the dough in between steps and to eat one of the cookie holes right when it comes out of the oven. I think I've found my favorite cookie recipe ever.


Jam Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c (12 1/2 oz) AP flour
  
• 3/4 c (5 1/2 oz) superfine sugar (granulated sugar, pulverized in the food processor for 30 sec)
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into sixteen 1/2" pieces
  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
  
• 2 Tbsp turbinado, Demerara, or white decorating sugar
  
• 1 1/4 c (12 oz) raspberry jam, strained

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the flour, sugar, and salt at low speed until combined. With the mixer running on low, add the butter a piece at a time. Continue to mix until the mixture looks crumbly and slighty wet. Add the vanilla and cream cheese and mix for another 30 seconds.
   
2. Knead the dough by hand in the bowl for a few turns, then turn the dough out onto the countertop. divide in half and wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
   
3. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out one half of the dough to an even 1/8" thickness between 2 large sheets of parchment paper. Slide the rolled tough, still on the parchment, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, repeat with the rest of the dough.
   
4. Cut out the cookies with a 2" round cookie cutter and transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown. Roll out the the remaining dough, sprinkle the sugar over the dough, and use a 3/4" round cookie cutter to cut out the centers of the rounds. Bake as before.
   
5. When the cookies have cooled, add about 1 tsp of jam on the base cookies and put the cut-out cookies on top. Let stand until set, about 30 minutes.

Secret bonus song I made on my Kaossilator while making these this weekend:

Sound and Vision - Fra Angelico and Britten

The Annunciation, Fra Angelico (1437-1446)
It's nice to have such a cultured family. My mom loves medieval and early Renaissance painting, especially Fra Angelico, and she passed a lot of that appreciation on to me and my sister, who got her BA in art history. One of my favorite trips we've ever taken together was to the Cloisters in NYC. Not only do my mom and sister love art, but my brother is a music professor, and every once in a while he sends me some of the music he's working on, like the Faure songs I've posted here. He's currently coaching the second of five canticles Benjamin Britten wrote for tenor, countertenor, and piano. The original text for this piece is taken directly from Chester's mystery plays, a cycle of 15th century plays based on biblical texts.

The connection between the Britten piece and the Fra Angelico painting isn't just the concurrence of the art and the text, it's their shared depiction of contact with the supernatural. Everything about the Fra Angelico painting is otherworldly, from the over-sized figures and Gabriel's rainbow wings to the beauty of the painting itself (and, you know, the whole idea of the annunciation to begin with), and Britten's portrayal of the voice of God at the beginning of this piece is almost scarily awe-inspiring.


Britten's Canticle II - Abraham and Issac

Mussamun Curry Paste

My brother and his wife got me a great curry cookbook for Christmas a few years ago, and after opening it up the other day, I got hungry for some labor-intensive Indian food. In the back are a few recipes for curry paste (red, green, yellow) and one for "Thai-Style Mussamun Curry Paste" that serves as a base for an interesting curry containing chicken, potatoes, and peanuts. After looking at the ingredient list I knew I had to make it.



This paste has a bunch of sweet spices and an undercurrent of a kick from the dried chiles. Apparently it some ceremonial purposes in Thailand (weddings, births, ordinations of Buddhist monks), and it tastes pretty incredible. All the up-front work you put in pays off, since making homemade curry is so quick with some curry paste on hand. I happend to have all the whole spices (except for the turmeric), so I went overkill: here's a photo of some cardamom pods I cracked open, just to give you an idea of how far you can take this recipe if you're in the mood.



The Mussamun curry recipe in this cookbook calls for 2 cans of coconut milk, 2 lbs cut up chicken breast, 1 large peeled, chopped potato, and 1 onion cut into chunks, along with 1/2 c dry-roasted salted peanuts, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 3 Tbsp dissolved tamarind paste, 2 Tbsp lime juice, and salt to taste. Combine 5 Tbsp curry paste with 1/2 c of coconut milk over medium-high heat, lightly brown the chicken, then add everything else besides the lime juice. Bring to a boil, simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, add the lime juice, and serve with basmati rice. FYI, I also made this with a couple of blocks of cubed, pan-fried extra firm tofu (frozen overnight, thawed during the day, and hand-squeezed dry), adding the tofu a few minutes before taking the curry off the heat, and it was at least as good as the original recipe.



Thai-Style Mussamun Curry Paste

Ingredients

• 15 small dried red chili peppers (chiles de arbol, the slender ones about the size of your pinkie)
  
• 2 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1 tsp ground coriander
  
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
  
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
  
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 c coarsely chopped onion
  
• 1/2 c chopped garlic
  
• 3 Tbsp minced fresh lemongrass (the white sections of about 3 stalks)
  
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
  
• few Tbsp water

Directions

1. Stem the chilies, remove the seeds, and cut them into small pieces using kitchen shears. There will be about 1/4 c of dried chilies. Place in a small bowl and add warm water to cover, then soak for about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
   
2. Meanwhile, combine cumin and coriander seds in a small, dry frying pan. Toast over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often, until fragrant and slightly darkened. Remove from heat and combine with the rest of the spices. In a food processor, combine the onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, 2 Tbsp of water, drained chilies, and the spice mixture. Process to a fairly smooth, evenly colored-paste.
   
3. Transfer to an airtight jar and seal. Refrigerate until needed for up to 1 months, or freeze for up to 6 months.