3 observations for today:

1. I enjoy wearing galoshes and vintage aprons at the same time.

2. Lady Grey tea goes wonderfully with anise walnut biscotti bites.

3. Beans taste infinitely better when cooked in a pressure cooker. I have no idea why this is true.

My recipe for gluten-free anise walnut biscotti bites:

3 eggs

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 Tbs. Palm oil shortening (or butter) melted

2 tsp baking powder

1 1-ounce bottle of anise extract (2 Tbs.)

1 1/2 c. rice flour

1 c. tapioca starch

1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (you can get this in health food stores)

1 c toasted and crushed walnuts

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Then add the flours and the xanthan gum. Mix well and let sit in the fridge for at least 10 minutes and up to overnight. Check consistency at this point. If it’s stiff like cookie dough that’s awesome, but you may need to add more flour. Add 1/2 c. rice flour and mix well, then if that’s not enough alternate with 1/2 c. of the tapioca starch until a stiff consistency is reached.

You can toast the walnuts in a hot pan on the stove top, or bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 or 15 minutes. Crush them up so that they’re not in super big pieces and mix into the dough. Scoop small balls of dough about 3/4 inch wide onto a cookie sheet and cook in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

If you want it to be a traditional biscotti shape form the dough into two long loaf shapes on cookie pans and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Then let cool and cut into diagonal slices and rebake for another 15 to 20 minutes. In this case it’s really important that the walnuts not be in big pieces or they’ll catch the knife when you’re cutting.