Citrus envy

This week, our fair city was blessed with spring-like weather. Birds chirped, rain fell softly at night, and fat little baby clouds waddled across the sky during the day. I went for a walk in a light blouse and a floaty skirt one day; on another, our anemic house plants took a vacation on the front porch. We kept the windows open while I tinkered in the kitchen and my husband built a baby grand piano case in the basement (no really, he did. It's a damn fine piano case, too.)

I know the Weather Fairy is teasing us, pretending she won't dump a foot of snow in south-central Kansas before next week. And though Valentine's Day still looms ahead, I'm pining for daffodils like the parrot in Monty Python's Flying Circus was "pining for the fields."

Though I'm not lying prostrate at the bottom of a bird cage while I pine.

Perhaps I'm just too jealous of the weather people are enjoying in Florida. Did you know it's citrus season down there? Aran of Cannelle et Vanille has me whipped into a frenzy with her strawberry-filled macaroons, blood orange sorbet, and Meyer Lemon souffles. Her blogs are a delight for the eyes and crack for my salivary glands. Perhaps I'm just in love with the idea of Patricia Scarpin's lime yogurt cake.

Call it cabin fever or citrus envy, but I'm taking desperate measures. If no citrus is in season, I will season the season with citrus flavors. I'm bringing out the orange oil and the lemon juice. Until we have berries again, I'll make tarts with last summer's mulberries and frozen cranberries from Thanksgiving. I will season my jasmine rice with lime juice from the green squeezy bottle and hold my head high!

I started with biscotti. Just in time for my grocery store's Easter rollout, I've made chocolate chip biscotti with orange essence. They taste just like one of those foil-covered chocolate oranges, only better (and without the risk of accidentally eating foil.) If that's not enough orange for your discerning palette, you can up the orange by dicing some candied orange peel to fold in with the chocolate chips.



Chocolate chip biscotti with orange
makes about two dozen dunking cookies

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup sugar (or a half-half mixture of xylitol and sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. orange oil
• 1 3/4 -2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate pieces
• pinch sea salt
  

In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and oil. Beat in eggs with a whisk, then mix in vanilla and orange oil. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder until just moistened. The mixture should feel like thick brownie batter against your spoon. Incorporate the chocolate chunks. Since I only had giant eggs on hand, I had to mix in another two tablespoons of flour to reach this consistency. You want to avoid a soupy batter.

Throw the biscotti batter into your freezer for a few minutes while you prepare your oven (heat it to 375 degrees Fahrenheit) and your baking sheet (grease it!) Spoon another tablespoon of cocoa powder into a small finger bowl; you'll use the cocoa to "flour" your hands and work with the biscotti batter.

Once the batter has cooled and stiffened for five minutes, remove the bowl and use your cocoa'd hands to shape the biscotti into two long "loaves" on the baking sheet. Make the biscotti loaves 3-4 inches wide and about a foot long, and separate the loaves (you may need to do this on a second sheet) by several inches. They will spread when they cook. Bake the biscotti at 375 degrees for fifteen minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees for the next 25-30 minutes. Remove the biscotti from the oven. Each loaf should be brown(er than uncooked cocoa-filled dough) on the outside.

Quickly (but gently) cut the loaves into 3/4-inch cookies with a sharp, thin-bladed knife. Separate the cookies, turn them on their sides, and return them to the oven for five more minutes! Once one side is crisped, flip the biscotti and cook the other side for five minutes. Let the biscotti cool to room temperature, then store in an air-tight container for up to a week. These biscotti also freeze perfectly.

Now, brew a pot of coffee, enjoy a fragrant biscotti, and hope spring comes early.