National Food Bloggers Bake Sale

Today is The National Bloggers Bake Sale.  Gaby from What's Gaby Cooking organized the whole dang thing!  The Los Angeles contingency was at The Grove.  She reminds me of me when I was her age.  Such a go-getter.  Her story is truly inspirational and basically, she organized this fund raiser, from coast to coast, all by herself!  She should be really proud of herself.  She pulled together tons of local bloggers and all were ready and willing to help in anyway possible.

Today was very special.  It was so nice to see a small community of like minded people come together in a common space.  Everyone was there for the same reasons; we all love food, we all enjoy showing our love through food, and we were raising money for a fantastic cause.

I did get there on the later side, however I was still able to pick up some wonderful treats.  I picked up a few of Joseline's macaroons from Daydreamer Desserts which were beautifully displayed.  I also grabbed a Nutella Toaster Tart from Show Food Chef. Initially, I really fell in love with was her packaging ( I wish I photographed it), but when Eli and I tore off the wrapping, and took a bite, a little bite of heaven was inside.  These are like a little mini pop tart, but a healthy version.  I am making these immediately.  There were so many more wonderful treats; mini bundts from The Food Librarian, amazing toffee from Rachel aka La Fuji Mama, and basket of the most wonderful cookies from Sherry Yard, whom hand delivered them herself!

Yesterday, I received a perfectly timed package from Amazon.  I knew what it was and I instantly ripped open the  box.  I have been waiting for this book...Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz!  It is hot off the presses and I am ready to dive in.

I kind of had my baking agenda picked out for today's event.  However, my day yesterday turned into an all day work day and when I got home, with the kids, after 3:30 p.m.  I had to re-think.  I opened up David's book, almost right to the page ( pg. 216) with the recipe for Almond + Chocolate Chunk Biscotti.  It didn't require any softening of butter, it was a one bowl process and I had callebaut bittersweet chocolate chips in the pantry.  A big sigh of relief!

In all honesty, I had big plans for my contribution to this terrific event.  However, life got in the way and I had to do something a little bit less stressful. I couldn't have made a better choice.  The kids were eating the crumbs off the cookie sheets!

After the event ended today, I  took a huge bag of goodies with me to the baseball field.  Today was a huge day for our baseball league. Not only did we have games all day (4 different leagues), but we also had our Hit-A-Thon (our leagues fund raiser) and it was picture day.  So, the park was PACKED!

When I told my neighbors 3 girls that I was going to sell the cookies at the park, they volunteered to come and help.  So glad they did.  If it wasn't for them, I would never have sold all my inventory.  Besides they are so cute and who could say "no" to three cute girls?

Almond + Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
5 large eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups almonds, toasted and chopped (I used toasted slivered almonds)
7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I used callebaut chips)


directions:
• preheat oven to 350*.  Line baking sheets with parchment.
• Whisk together flour and baking powder
• In a mixer with the whip attachment, whisk eggs, sugar & vanilla on medium speed until thickened.  Add the flour mixture with a rubber spatula, then the nuts and chocolate.
• On a lightly floured work surface, , divide the dough in half.  Shape each half into a log 3" wide.  Set the logs on the prepared baking sheet.  I like to bake one per sheet ( I doubled the recipe so I had 4 logs).  
• Bake, rotating the baking sheet midway through baking, until lightly brown, about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 300*.  Let cool for 15 minutes
• Transfer logs to a cutting board and with a serrated knife, cut diagonally about 1/2 inch thick.  Place, cut side up, in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Bake until firm, about 20 minutes, flipping them midway through.  Let cool completely on the baking sheet.  
• Will keep in an airtight container for one week.