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Let’s have a moment to discuss how talented Garrett McCord is as a food writer. He’s not just your normal food blogger, but a blogger with incredible style and sense for what recipes are good and what people may want to read.
And the best part about Garrett is that he does what all food writers are expected to do–rich, “flavorful” language that does more than just explain the taste of a recipe, but gives you a setting and a sensation about what the recipe could be. Plus, Garrett’s writing never feels forced. It’s poetic, succinct, and versatile. Garrett reminds me of everything I like about good food writing.
Here’s what I hate about food writing–there are those tropes all food writers fall into (i.e., “the air was heavy with the sent of fall”) and then they never escape. I happened to be flipping through TV channels yesterday and I paused on the Food Network seeing a female cook I had never noticed before. Curious, intrigued, ready to discover what she was making, I quickly discovered that I could only stay on the channel for one minute as she kept saying, “When I was in the South of France, the air was heavy with…” and then ten seconds go by as she mixes in a bowl, “and the air was just so heavy with the sent of… really, just heavy, heavy with the sent of ….” I add ellipses here because her recipe instantly became unmemorable with these trite truisms. I can’t remember what the air was heavy with, but it was heavy with something (perhaps her poor anecdote).
Basically, as I grapple with my own voice as a food and cooking writer, I cannot help but appreciate those who give such strong examples of what one should do. Garrett McCord’s posts frequently represent these devices for me: in a simple post about Pumpkin Biscotti (yes, the one that follows) he makes you feel the fall wind, the need for a blanket, a cup of chai, and these pumpkin biscotti cookies. Better yet, he explains that they are “warming, rustic, and not too sweet” and that such a recipe is adaptable–you can add cranberries, or white or dark chocolate if you “feel like spoiling” yourself.
Now that is the taste and flavor of fall, and what these pumpkin biscotti cookies deserve. Thank you Garrett for writing so many wonderful posts on food and cooking.
Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Biscotti
As I said previously, this recipe is courtesy of Garrett McCord over at Vanilla Garlic. The recipe was not posted on Garrett’s food blog, but on Elise Bauer’s Simply Recipes. You can find the original here. I follow Garrett’s recipe exactly with a simple substitution: one cup of dried cranberries. The combination of cranberries and pumpkin spice makes for a surprisingly flavorful, yet not too sweet coffee cookie.
Ingredients:
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* pinch of ginger
* pinch of cloves
* pinch of salt
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup – 1 cup dried cranberries, optional
1.) Preheat oven to 350F and grease a baking sheet. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2.) In a standing kitchenaid mixer, whisk together eggs, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and sugar. Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture until fully integrated. Then, add cranberries (if using). Stop mixer to scrape down sides and mix one last time.
3.) Add flour to a clean work surface and flour your hands. Now, using lots of flour, kneed the dough until dry, but not too dry. Add dough ball to baking sheet and shape into an over-sized log. Dough should be 1/2 inch thick and about 15-20 inches long and 5-6 inches thick.
4.) Bake for 18-24 minutes, or until biscotti is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
5.) Once biscotti has cooled, take a serrated knife and at a diagonal, cut 1-inch thick slices of biscotti. If you wish, turn oven to 300F and cook biscotti for an extra 15 minutes so that pieces are less chewy and more crunchy. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Enjoy! Makes 12-15 1 inch pieces.
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