Tell me this guy’s not cute!  Rick went outside with a beer in hand, put it down to take a few photos.  He then came in saying in an incredulous voice, “A raccoon just drank my beer!”  Too bad, that was the last beer. Hopefully, this little guy wasn’t too tipsy!

It is Sunday night and we have to take off soon, get back to the city!  Today was a pretty laid back kind of day.  I have been enjoying the clean windows.  Yesterday, we cleaned windows, a huge chore here at the coast since we have lots of windows. So, I wonder, why is it that a bird had to go and leave its droppings on the clean clear window.  Is it to spite us?

What I did today was make biscotti!  I had this idea to make some biscotti to bring to John.  We are leaving for Columbus, Ohio on Thursday to see John and spend the Memorial Day weekend with him.  Well, with biscotti, you can’t make just TEN, can you?

I’m afraid I made mountains of them! I don’t do things part way. No, I sort of go overboard, like really BIG.  Make biscotti?  Make 100!  It’s in my genes.  I can’t help it.

These biscotti are to die for! Of course, Rick indulged in a few:

Almond Aniseed Biscotti  (I added a bag of chocolate chips to make them extra special):

1 1/4 cups toasted almonds (about 5 oz)
1/2 cup  (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon anisette liqueur
1 1.2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tablespoons aniseed

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Butter 2 cookie sheets.  Coarsely chop  almonds.  Using electric mixer, cream butter with sugar in large bowl just until combined.  Beat in eggs, liqueur, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in 2 cups flour, cornmeal, then   chopped almonds and aniseed.  If dough is sticky, mix in enough of remaining 1/4 cup flour by tablespoons to form smooth dough.

Shape dough into four 2-inch-wide 3/4 inch thick logs.  Transfer to prepared cookie sheet, spacing evenly.  Bake until pale golden on edges, about 25-35 minutes.  Transfer logs to racks and cool for 10 minutes.  Maintain oven temperature.

Place logs on work surface and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices.  Arrange slices cut side down on cookie sheets.  Bake until very light brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer biscotti to rack and cool completely.  (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.  Store in airtight containers at room temperature).

Enjoy and have a great week!!