Raisin and Almond Biscotti with Orange

Where do I begin? Well, my first recipe in this project was biscotti and my last recipe is biscotti. Does anyone remember me asking what blanching almonds meant? And I wondered if Sharon would notice. I still laugh when I think about Angie telling me to read the tips in the beginning of the cookbook! I had to blanch almonds in this biscotti recipe, also. I now know what it means and also know that Sharon would have noticed! How far I've come!

Let me give you an example (or two) of how far I've come. I was hosting a family birthday party for my son, Cole, on Sunday. I was expecting company at 3:00 p.m. At 1:00 p.m. I realized that I hadn't baked a birthday cake. So I went to my pantry to retrieve a box of chocolate cake when I realized that I was out of chocolate cake mix! What was I to do? I could run to Kroger and pick up a box, or...I knew that I had all the ingredients that I needed to make one from scratch. What do you think I did? That's right, I made my son's 8th birthday cake from scratch! I pulled out my Betty Crocker cookbook and chose the recipe for Best Chocolate Cake. It probably took only 5 minutes longer to mix up that cake batter than my usual Betty Crocker cake. Was it worth it? Well, I amazed myself. However, half of the people at the party liked it better than a box cake and half like the box cake better. I have to admit, I was one of those that voted for the taste of the box cake. I guess I need to find a better Best Chocolate Cake recipe!

Example number two. Yesterday I saw a note on our family calendar that said "Need cookies" written in my husband's handwriting. When I asked him what that meant, he said that he volunteered to bring cookies to work for a baby shower to be held at lunch. He has been very supportive throughout this whole process. Instead of being irritated that I had to bake cookies on a very busy and non-baking day, I was actually touched that he wanted me to bake cookies for work! So, from 10:30 p.m. until midnight, I baked TWO (not one) batches of oatmeal cookies for him. Before you give me too much credit, I did have the base of the oatmeal cookie left over from the Basic Oatmeal Cookie recipe. Still, I baked THREE days in a row! Sharon, Theresa, you've created a monster!

The best part of this journey was not the cookies, or the six pounds that I gained by eating all the cookies. It was the excitement of reading the comments on my blogs. It was getting to know Sharon and Theresa and my friends better though those comments. It was the Easter Bunny delivering cookies at my door. It was talking, laughing and seeing my favorite people everyday because of the cookies. It's a bittersweet ending for me. I'm glad that I don't have to bake again unless I want to. But I am also sad that it's over.

Time for a new project. I still think the Friend and Cookies calendar is a good idea!

Lots of love!

shelly