Tea and coffee are indispensable elements of people's daily lives across the globe, but they are best enjoyed with something sweet on the side. Let's talk about the flavors that accompany tea or coffee in different cultures in many parts of the world.
Sweet snacks that we can consume sometimes instead of breakfast, or sometimes for elevenses or on the side of tea or coffee accompanying long conversations, are quite popular for a reason. Add them alongside a glass of milk, the kids love them too!
I have three great recipes for you. First up is an Italian flavor biscotti, the second is the soft and fragrant lemon cake, and the last is an irresistible chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Cakes and cookies have similar ingredients and different textures, with chocolate, fruit, pistachios... thousands of varieties that line those attractive showcases at bakeries!
Now, I will share with you an Italian recipe that is similar to both but offers a different and unique texture and taste: biscotti.
Biscotti, which literally means a kind of biscuit baked twice in Latin, is a flavor that has been going on for years with its history dating back to the Roman Empire.
Although it was forgotten from time to time, Biscotti found new fame under the name "cantucci" – also known as biscotti di Prato because it originated in the Tuscan city of Prato after the Renaissance.
Since Italy is a country surrounded by water on three sides, the most common occupation was seafaring. So, Italian sailors needed food that could withstand long sea voyages, and biscotti was the perfect candidate.
Biscotti is a long-lasting cookie because it is baked twice. While its consistency is like a cake in the first baking, the second baking is actually a drying process, and it is nutritious and satisfying because it has rich ingredients.
It was soon a favored provision of sailors, including Christopher Columbus, who traveled at sea for months at a time with the crunchy cargo.
In time biscotti, which is a combination of the words biscuit and cookie, has made its name known to the whole world.
I recommend you to try this sweet snack, which is often consumed by Italians, with this great recipe.
Ingredients
Instructions
Beat the eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and butter for five minutes.
Add flour and baking powder and knead them, add the raisons, apricots and hazelnuts and divide the dough into two equal parts. Place them lengthwise on a baking tray like a baguette and brush them with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake in a preheated 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Then, take it out of the oven and let it cool. After they cool, slice them like bread with a serrated knife and place them horizontally back in the oven to dry them out at 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes.
Your biscotti is ready!
Now make a cup of coffee right away and enjoy your time with the warm biscotti.
Now, it's time for our fragrant cake.
The word "cake" itself originates from the Vikings, from the Old Norse word "kaka."
According to food historians, cake can be traced back to ancient times with the first recorded civilization to have baked a variation of it being the ancient Egyptians. Of course, cake was a bit different back then with different ingredients and cooking techniques from today.
Later, with the development of ovens, molds and refined products, it started to diversify in Europe in the 17th century and cakes – more or less as we know them – emerged with the addition of icing.
The cake recipe, which you will find below, is a little different from the cakes made with flour you might be used to seeing. Yes, there is no flour in this recipe! So it has a wonderful texture that melts in the mouth.
Here is a flavor that turns heads with its beautiful smell, the fragrant lemon cake!
Ingredients
Instructions
Whisk the eggs and sugar until they turn white, add the remaining ingredients and continue whisking until they are mixed and pour them into the mold. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes. Before removing, do a knife test – insert a knife into the middle of the cake, if the knife comes out clean, your cake is done.
After it cools, take it out of the mold, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar, serve it with a hot cup of tea and bon appetit!
Finally, the chocolate chip cookies.
I guess there is no one in the world who does not like chocolate, is there? It is truly a flavor that beautifies all the recipes it is added to. So, it only makes sense that it would make cookies much better as well.
When we look at the history of the cookie, its formation appears to have been purely by chance.
Cookies, back in the day, were prepared in the form of a dough that would be put in the oven to check if it were hot enough before bread was baked, so they served as a kind of thermometer in the old ages.
Cookies were first created in the A.D. seventh century with origins in Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. People then started to experiment with them with chocolate and the like.
They spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.
Later, in the 17th and 18th centuries, they evolved into different forms and flavors and have survived to the present day.
An excellent option to accompany your coffee and tea resides in this recipe: chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
Ingredients
Instructions
Whip all the ingredients with a mixer, except the flour, oats and chocolate. Add flour and knead it, and add oats and continue kneading. Lastly, add the chocolate chips and mix, break off walnut-sized pieces from the dough and arrange them on the baking tray at intervals – consider the baking process and make sure that they are spread out.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes. They will be soft when they come out of the oven, that's normal, don't worry they will harden as they cool.
Then, there are your wonderful cookies with lots of chocolate, ready to enjoy! Serve them after they cool. They are particularly nice with a cup of coffee.
Bon appetit!
