St. Patrick’s Day “Baci” Biscotti

Denise Gianatasio is a Northport Village resident, freelance writer and licensed agent at Signature Premier Properties in Northport. Please feel free to contact her for any advice you may need at dishinwithdenise@yahoo.com.

Let us all celebrate St. Patrick’s Day wearing the traditional color green. Have yourself a blessed day with a great sumptuous corned beef and green cabbage meal, then top it off with these delectable green biscotti cookies! (Yes… 
I am Italian but love the twist.)                 Believe it or not, the color originally associated with St. Patrick’s Day was blue, but over the centuries, green dominated. It is said, Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. On March 17th, we observe St. Patrick’s Day as a celebration of Irish and Irish American cultures.              My father, was born in Sicily, Italy and came to America as a young man. A butcher by trade, he was delighted to learn and share in this fun cultural celebration. Each year he’d bring us home the most beautiful cut of corned beef, and for that lucky day, we were Irish! In honor of my Dad…“PAT” (Pasquale), you will just love the taste of pairing the green pistachio nuts and the white chocolate with my delicious biscotti recipe.                             Serve with shots of espresso and Bailey’s. “Top’ of the morning to you… and the rest of the day!” “Baci” (kisses) and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day/Birthday to my (a wee bit Irish) green eggs and ham… Our SAM!  Lucky Boy, My Sweet Grandson. xoxo, Denise

Ingredients
& Prep

½ cups shelled whole
    pistachios
1 stick unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 t vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
½ t salt
6-8 ounces white melting
    chocolate
Green food coloring

    Place one oven rack into the center of your oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly greasing, set aside. Lay the pistachios in single layer on cookie sheet, bake approx… 10 minutes then cool. In a bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy using electric mixer. Gradually add eggs, sugar, and vanilla until creamed. Add all dry ingredients to a separate large bowl and blend well. Add wet mixture to dry and mix well. Add in pistachios and mix well. Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll each half into a log (1 inch high-12 inch long). Place logs onto pan leaving 3 inches apart. Bake for 35 minutes or until bottoms are lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Move logs to cutting board and slice each on a diagonal into 1 inch thick slices. Place biscotti’s on their sides onto pan and bake 10 more minutes, turning over again at halftime (5 min). Remove from oven and cool. Melt white chocolate in microwave or double boiler, adding food color until desired shade. Dip biscotti into melted chocolate and place on wax paper. Add additional pistachio pieces or green sugar sprinkles. Store in air tight container to maintain freshness.  GO GREEN!