Biscotti and Jam

Biscotti Recap: They turned out very dark and very crunchy. The chocolate flavor was intense though. Decided to punctuate the darkness with squiggles of white royal icing, and they looked much cheerier. Hard to love a sombre cookie. I followed the recipe to the letter (almost) which is completely out of character for me. It just doesn't feel right until I futz with it. Next time, maybe creaming the butter with the sugar instead of melting it will keep them a bit toothier. They'd be great with dried cherries, too.

Tonight I'm back to jam. Pear jam, that is. I've been jamming for 2 weeks now. Had to do it. There's so much fruit out in the alley, and no one was picking it up except for the deer. (The alley in question is behind my house, and used to be where the train tracks ran from the local dairy.) All sorts of goodies are back there--little yellow/pink plums that look like the famous mirabelle plums from Alsace; dark purple plums; apricots; 3 different varieties of apple; blackberries, of course; and the pears. Oh, and lemons and oranges, too. And it's all free for the picking. Another reason I think of this place as Disneyland/paradise.

My jam inspiration came by way of a wonderful food blog, "Chocolate and Zucchini," where I learned about Christine Ferber, French jam virtuoso. I have a very long way to go in the jam-making game, but as long as my mistakes are still edible, it will be a pleasant journey.