As we are approaching the end of autumn and the beginning of a long cold winter, I am once again excited about… Halloween! Last year I started telling you about some spooky stories all true, and now I’m going to continue this tradition. Buckle your seat belts ladies and gents.
JT and I bought our first house north and east of Toronto in a small bedroom community called Stouffville. It was an old farming community from the 1800’s that the city planners linked to Toronto via the GO Train (Government of Ontario Train). The small city was limited only by the fact that it wasn’t on either main water or sewage; our little city’s water was from an arteasesn well. Being limited by the water made Stouffville even more desirable because it constrained mass building which was happening in droves in similar bedroom communities (we used to call it ‘the sea of houses’ because they went on and on). Our subdivision was the last of its kind until Stouffville joined up to city water and sewage in the mid-2000’s, which made it the fastest growing community north of Toronto. But we were gone long before that.
Although the house was brand new, it always gave me the willies! I only ever spent one night by myself in that house, I would go spend the night with my Mom or in laws when JT travelled. There were creepy noises, creeks and cracks. But the weirdest thing that happened even made skeptic JT agree that the house was strange.
One evening after dinner I was baking in our little kitchen, JT was watching television in the adjacent family room. I was turned away from the doorway and as I turned to put something in the sink out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone poke their head into the kitchen, they were wearing red. I just figured it was JT seeing if there were any samples to be had. But then a few moments later JT actually came into the kitchen and asked me what I wanted. I said I was just about to ask him the same thing. He said he thought I just poked my head into the family room, he thought I was wearing red too! Except neither of us had red on. Super freaked out, we checked all the doors and windows and they were locked tight. Then we checked all the rooms and closets. We found nothing.
Even though I wasn’t baking biscotti that night, I think JT and our mystery guest would have enjoyed a few tasters from this recipe.
Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Makes 2 logs, about 48 biscotti
Original recipe from Food Network
I was drawn to this recipe because it doesn’t have melted butter in it. Not having butter actually makes this cookie very hard and I would recommend not biting down on it unless you have dipped it into something warm.
Ingredients:
- 2 c flour
- 1 c sugar
- 1/3 c cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 c whole almonds, toasted skin on
- 1/3 c chocolate chips
- 1 egg white for brushing
Directions:
- Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
- Mix together eggs, egg whites and vanilla extract.
- Gradually add egg mixture to flour mixture blending on low speed.
- Toss almonds with chocolate chips and fold into the flour mixture until combined.
- On a well floured surface roll dough into 2 logs, 2 inches in diameter. They will expand quite a bit.
- Place on a greased pan and brush with beaten egg white.
- Bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.
- Allow logs to cool 15 minutes then cut into slices on the bias. Place slices on a greased sheet pan and bake in a 350 degree oven until toasted, about 15-20 minutes. Cool. Store in an airtight container.
[…] in the afternoon, I always feel like a little something to have with it, a biscotti (like this, this or this) or in most recent times, an amaretti cookie. Having just the right amount of ground […]
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Yummy! But your visitor must have poked its head into the kitchen from a parallel universe — I am more inclined to believe that than ghosts. 🙂
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Hi Zsuzsa, both would be scary to me!
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You see I was so overcome by your ghost story that I completely forgot to talk about your delicious looking biscotti!! — you know how much I love chocolate… this version’s got my name all over it :).
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Thanks Kelly, it’s such a lovely treat. We just finished off this batch so I’m going to have to find another recipe to make for our mid-morning coffee break!
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Your haunted stories are always my favorite Eva (I absolutely delight in that kind of thing). My favorite adventure when I traveled to London, England years ago was an evening haunted house tour … so fantastic! wish I could do it again. It turns me inside out.
How creepy about the flash of red and the fact that you both saw it (mind you, if I had been the only one to see it, that might have freaked me out even more — terrified in my loneliness) and a new house too…normally you associate these sorts of happenings with older homes… OMG, Maureen’s story above… if that had happened to me, I would still be running. Not even kidding.
Happy Thanksgiving Eva!
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Hi Kelly, I do too, although I must be very careful to watch/read scary stories so that I am not alone at night, I get spooked so easily. I agree, Maureen’s story totally freaked me out, I probably would have had to move from that house! I think you will like my next story!
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That specter in red would have sent me packing, especially being someone else in the house confirmed its presence. Yikes! These chocolate biscotti of yours look perfect, Eva, and biscotti need a good crunch or they’re just cookies. I’ve not seen any made without butter and I’d love to give these a try. Oh, who am I kidding? They’re chocolate and that’s all I need to know. 🙂
Wishing your and JT a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
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Thank you so much John, it’s a lovely time of year for Thanksgiving; there is a slight chill but not enough to stop a good long walk in the woods!
Yes indeed, that specter was very disturbing. I’m glad that we only ever came across it that one time.
And you’re absolutely right about the crunch of biscotti, it really does need to be harder so that it doesn’t fall apart in the hot liquid!
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Whoa, that was freaky! Hopefully it was a good spirit visiting you. Love your recipe… biscotti are my favourite. : )
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Thank you for your comment Lizzy, not sure if the ‘spirit’ was good or bad, it certainly didn’t do anything horrible to us and that was the first and last time we saw it, thankfully!
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We’ll be referencing this one. Katherine is trying to perfect her almond biscotti. Thanks!
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Thanks Greg, I’m very flattered.
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OK that’s spooky. Our first house was pretty basic but it was new. One day we came home and written on the wall inside the house was, “I hate won live this home.” I was spooked.
Maybe if I’d had biscotti to share it wouldn’t have happened.
I’m alone while John is in Melbourne with his dad trying to sort out his mother. I like being alone.
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Holy COW, Maureen, did you ever find out who wrote that on the wall? How scary is that? I’m certain I would have wanted to move IMMEDIATELY. These things don’t sit well with me!
Now I also love to spend time alone in our current home, even though we don’t have the gorgeous view and a pool like you do. I hope everything goes well with John’s mother, it’s very difficult when parents get to that age. I lost both my parents at an early age, so I didn’t have to go through it with them, but we’re deep in it with JT’s 89 year old father who sleeps 20 hours a day. It’s such a shame to end one’s life this way.
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It is a very scary story, indeed! I feel I desperately need several chocolate biscotti to calm down 😉 Seriously, they look marvellous! (PS I have never lived in a house, only in flats, and I’m a bit scared even thinking I might stay alone at night in a big house on my own… so I can imagine that creaking and noises made you scared, not to mention the “red” someone).
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Hi Sissi, it was the very first single detached house that I’ve ever lived in too, which made all the creeks and cracks and noises even worse for me. I would love the share some of my biscotti with you to help calm down.
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Great looking biscotti and an intriguing story but what is a bedroom community? I wonder if the new owners of the house had similar experiences xx
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Hi Charlie, a bedroom community is a place that is close enough to a big city that people can live in affordable housing and commute to the city where they have jobs. It’s usually just a place where people sleep hence the unusual name. We didn’t keep in touch with the new owners, but it would be interesting to find out if they had similar experiences.
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That was a pretty strange incident. Not scary but strange. Who knows if the appearances would have continued if you lived there longer. The biscotti seem quite rich and delicious. I hope to make biscotti this long weekend as I’m home for 4 days in a row.
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Hi Maria, it was a very weird incident for sure. It really spooked me out and I probably didn’t sleep a wink that night. I hope you have a happythanks giving and look forward to your post about your biscotti.
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Yes, that is quite creepy, I too would be convinced to stay elsewhere if alone. Love the biscotti! I could really go for that cup and biscuit right now.
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Thank you very much Judy, I had forgotten about that tale and really had to rack my brain to remember the details, it was down right spooky for sure.
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What a great spooky story…and I’m excited to hear more of your Halloween-ish tales, Eva! These biscotti look perfect and I love the combo of chocolate and almond. I just don’t think biscotti are good unless they are super crisp and “crack” when you bite into them. If they aren’t hard, they disintegrate in your coffee when you dip them…not fun.
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Thank you for your lovely kind words Betsy. You are absolutely right about the biscotti, it is awful to have them disintegrate in hot coffee, it’s a perfect balance.
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OMG..what a story…I am having goosebumps even now. I can’t imagine what you guys must have felt, must have been totally spooked out. I scaled my tongue because I wasn’t paying attention to my hot cup of tea while ogling the biscotti…looks so good.
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Oh my Minnie, I hope your tongue heals quickly, it’s terribly painful. I am very glad that our present house is not nearly as creepy.
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You should have posted this in Halloween 🙂
Your biscotti looks awesome!
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Thanks Angie, yes, I should have posted it closer but I only have so many stories and since I’m posting only twice a week, I didn’t want to run out of them. Thank you for your lovely compliment about the biscotti. I’m hoping you make a gluten free version so I can share some with my GF friends.
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oh boy.. i’d be too afraid to bake and/or cook in a haunted house. at least you sucked it up and stayed — i’d complain like a little sissy. great lookin’ biscotti, eva!
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Fortunately we were moving away so it wasn’t as bad, but I still wouldn’t stay on my own for sure. Thank you for you compliment for the biscotti.
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Did the “person” in red returned again while you were still living in that house? That incident would have totally freaked me out.
I am having my morning coffee and could dunk a few of your biscotti.
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Hi Norma, thankfully the person in red was an isolated incident. It did freak me out but I was also glad that it happened because JT keep thinking I was out of my mind! I would love to share my biscotti with you.
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Ooh what a great story Eva ! I was reading this post riveted with my cup of tea wishing I had one of your biscotti! 😀
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Thank you very much Lorraine, I wish I were close enough to share one with you.
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