Olive and Pine Nut Biscottini

This is a recipe from Canapés, by Eric Treuille and Victoria Blashford-Snell. A wonderful book - I picked it up in London at the insistence of Johanna, and I don't regret it for a second.

These biscotti turned out a little soft for my liking, so next time I'll dry them for longer. And maybe I'll finish them with a spray of oil and a dash of sea salt - but they were fine like this too. I needed them to be very portable, so I didn't want to mess around with them more, but if you have other possibilities, then do the salt thing. I think they'd benefit from it.

Olive and Pine Nut Biscottini
makes 60-80, depending on size

100 g pine nuts
250 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
100 g pitted green olives, chopped
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and when it's done, toast the nuts for 7 minutes until they are fragrant and golden. Let cool.

Use a food processor (or just mix it all by hand) and mix the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, fennel, parmesan, eggs and olives into a rough dough. Add the pine nuts by hand. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into logs that are about 2.5 (1 inch) thick. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes. The logs should be firm.

Take them out, and when they're cook enough to handle, slice them diagonally. Place the slices back on the baking sheet, and bake again until dry and crispy - it should take about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

This keeps very well for a couple of days in an air-tight plastic container.

And, as you can see, I'm home! :) I had a wonderful, wonderful time in Dalarna, and I'm gearing up to tell you all about it. Actually, that will be fast, since we didn't have any exactly exciting culinary adventures. But, with beautiful weather, lots of sleep, strawberries, ice cream and barbecue - what more can you really ask for? Oh, and I forgot the best part - lots of time for just me and Per.

Thanks to Lena for keeping you entertained in the mean time - I hope you'll come back, or why not start a blog of your own? You cook GREAT food! And thanks to all of your wonderful well-wishes, it's been wonderful to read all the comments!