Fat Friday...

Ever feel like life is slowing you down?

Like you're overcomplicating everything just to please everyone?

Ever want to take a day where you can just forget about that bill, stop worrying about the appointments you haven't yet made and leave out that mint chocolate dip you were planning with dessert?

Wait....what?

Ok, so I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I like things to be the neatest, the most imaginative, the tastiest. But y'know what? Sometimes that burning desire [mmkay, I'm not quite that obsessive, more of a simmering want than a fanatical longing] can cloud your vision completely, making everything ten times more difficult and yet often giving only the tiniest fraction of gratification.

For a thousand reasons, this week has been full of complications. Jam packed with odd jobs and to do lists that, rather than being satisfyingly scribbled out, have only seemed to grow longer and more burdensome.

Any other week and I'd have it all done in a day. But this week....this week called for some much needed R&R, a lot of list-editing and the occasional dose of Annadin extra.

And it's for this reason that today's recipe is all sorts of simple.

Double chocolate biscotti. Rich, crisp and gooey, it's the kind of simplicity that, in reality, needs no final flourish. Forget the icing sugar dusting, the preened presentation, the mint chocolate dip. This one's fine just the way it is - simple, and proud of it.

And if this is what the simple life involves, I think I could just about get used to it.

INGREDIENTS

adapted from the Green and Black's chocolate recipe book

Preheat the oven to 180C // 350F // GM 4 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a large bowl, add the caster sugar and stir until well combined.

Crack the 2 whole eggs into a smaller bowl and beat along with the extra egg yolk. Chop the chocolate into small chunks and add to the flour mixture along with the eggs. Beat together until the ingredients come together to form a ball of dough.

Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour, pat some into the dough for good measure, and roll out into a log, about 2cm thick.

Slide onto the pre-lined baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until slightly spread and cracked on the surface.

Turn the oven down to 150C // 300F // GM 2 and allow the log to cool for a good ten minutes before slicing into individual biscotti. I won't lie, I could've eaten the whole thing like this, but alas, it needs a little while longer in the oven.

Place each of the pieces back onto the lined baking tray and bake again for another 30 minutes until firm to the touch.

And the best part of this whole recipe?

Evening up the edges.

It's the simple things.

xxx