Happy News: The Eat In My Kitchen Cookbook & Espresso Chocolate Biscotti
An exciting email from New York changed my life! Holly La Due from Prestel/ Verlagsgruppe Random House asked me if I'd be interested in writing a cookbook filled with my recipes, stories and photographs. I had to read this email twice before I ran to my boyfriend who was still in bed, it was 7 in the morning, I put the laptop on his chest and made him read the email to me again. I screamed and laughed out loud hysterically!
Holly is the most patient and helpful editor any author could ask for, she has been following eat in my kitchen for a while and I felt pretty soon that we're a very good match. So the past few weeks were filled with lots of excitement and many, long Skype calls across the Atlantic. Discussing how we're going to do this together, talking about our ideas and our vision for the book which will be published in English and in German. Prestel is highly renowned for its publications in art, design and architecture so I don't have to worry about the aesthetic development of my book. With a great publisher behind me, I have the wonderful freedom to fill almost 300 pages with many new recipes, some blog classics and my own photography. After working only digitally on the blog, it feels like a natural transition into the physical world, everything you find on my blog, my style of cooking and baking and my photos, will be merged into the pages of the Eat In My Kitchen cookbook. There will be many more of my salads, soups and vegetable creations, meat and seafood recipes, sandwiches, and there will be lots of baking happening as well. The American Eater brought it to a point a few days ago, "comfort food with a Mediterranean palate". My German upbringing, my mother's cooking in particular, my boyfriend's Maltese/ American family, many summers spent in Malta and Gozo, these are my influences in the kitchen, my never ending source of culinary creativity.
And now I can do what I love so much, I can cook and bake even more, write new recipes and take many, many pictures so that all of us can hold this book in our hands next year. I feel so inspired, I have so many recipes on my mind, there's so much energy and happiness that I can already feel coming from these pages.
It must have been around a year ago that some of you started to ask me about an Eat In My Kitchen book, a physical alternative to my blog's online platform. I had never really thought about it before, although there were enough recipes to fill a couple books, it wasn't on my mind. That changed in the past few months, to get so much support from all of you, so many emails from happy food lovers who enjoy my recipes so much, this experience let this idea ripen in my head, so Prestel asked me at the right time, I'm ready!
Although there are still quite a few months of work ahead of us before the big release day, which will be in the Fall of 2016, I know that we'll need the time to create a book that touches and inspires everybody like the blog already does. Thank you for your ongoing support, thank your for your wonderful words and trust in my work!
The happiest regards from Berlin!
Meike xx
This much excitement asked for a kicking taste experience to feel that I'm actually not dreaming: crunchy biscotti, refined with espresso butter, spices, dark chocolate and hazelnuts. These little treats are so good with a cup of tea or a tiny black espresso, they are definitely for adults who need a moment of intense savouring, bittersweet and full of flavour!
You can read the first announcement of my cookbook on Eater here!
Espresso Butter Chocolate Biscotti
For about 45 biscotti you need
butter, melted, 100g / 3.5oz
instant espresso powder 2 teaspoons
plain flour 400g / 14oz
baking powder 2 teaspoons
granulated sugar 210g / 7 1/2oz
salt 1/4 teaspoon
five-spice powder (fennel seeds, star-anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper) 2 teaspoons
cardamom 1/4 teaspoon
organic eggs 3
bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, 120g / 4 1/4oz
hazelnuts, roughly chopped, 50g / 1 3/4oz
Set your oven to 180°C / 355°F (fan-assisted oven) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the espresso powder into the warm, melted butter and let it cool for a few minutes.
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until creamy and mix in the espresso butter. Add the dry mixture and mix with the dough hooks of your mixer until just combined. Stir in the chocolate and nuts, form a ball and divide into four parts. Form each into a long bread shape (around 5cm / 2″ wide) and place on the baking sheet, bake for 25 minutes. Take them out and let them cool for about 20 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 170°C / 340°F.
For the second round, cut each loaf gently into 1 1/2cm / 1/2″ slices and lay the biscotti flat on the baking sheet, sprinkle each one with a little sugar. Bake for 6 minutes, turn them over and sprinkle the other side with sugar. Bake them for another 6 minutes or until golden brown, put them on a wire rack and let them cool. You can keep the biscotti in an airtight container for days.
