Care Package #36: First Date

On August 29, 2009 I was lucky enough to go on an outstanding first date (with Brian, in case you didn't make the connection). We met for dinner at Carrabas and ended up sitting there talking for over 2 hours. After the waitress cleared the table and wiped it down we got the hint that she was encouraging us to move along. But I didn't want the date to end yet, so I broke one of my cardinal rules of dating: no movies on a first date. If you're trying to get to know someone and see if you click, what good is it to sit in the dark and not talk for 2 hours? Not to mention that you never know what kind of awkward or charged issue could come up in a movie storyline. Still, I wasn't ready to say goodnight just yet, so I suggested catching a movie. We both agreed on "Funny People" and, awkward sexual humor aside, it was pretty funny.

Fast forward one year, and I was racking my brain to come up with a "First Date" themed care package. Since we ate at an Italian restaurant, I decided to bake an Italian snack: chocolate almond biscotti (recipe below). Biscotti is one of my favorite snacks and it took every ounce of will power not to eat the whole batch by myself!


But just sending biscotti was not enough. I decided to recreate as best I could our actual first date. Of course, real Italian food would never survive the trip to Iraq. But Chef Boyardee could! I also picked up a copy of "Funny People" and some movie candy to round out the package. Everything seemed to arrive in good condition, except the Milk Duds melted into one big Dud.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

1.75 C flour

.3 C unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

.5 tsp salt

6 TBS butter, room temperature

1 C sugar

3 large eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla

1 C chocolate chips

1 C slivered almonds

Line two cookie sheets with heavy duty tin foil.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Mix the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add eggs one at a time then add vanilla. Add flour mixture just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and almonds.

Put half the dough on each cookie sheet and, with wet fingertips, shape into logs about 3" by 12". Refrigerate for half hour.

Heat oven to 350. Bake logs for 25 to 35 minutes or until top begins to crack and toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes then cut into 1" thick slices and place flat on cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and turn slices over. Return to oven and bake for another 8 minutes. Let them cool completely then store in an airtight container.