America's Home Cooking: Sweets

- Today we're gonna be cooking sweets.

- Oh, so delicious looking.

- We have to make sure it's sweet enough.

- Okay.

(laughing) (violin music) (audience applauding) - Hi, I am Chris Fennimore.

- And I'm Nancy Polinsky.

- Welcome to back into the kitchen.

Ya know, today we're gonna be cooking sweets.

Well, you know, it's one of those things that's sometimes we think of sweets as a guilty pleasure.

I think of it as a necessary pleasure.

- It's a staple.

- So we're gonna be cooking all sweet things, pies and cakes and candies, and all sorts of delicious treats that you can serve, make for yourself, and make for your family, for your friends.

And we've gathered together all of these recipes into a brand new cookbook, which we'll tell you all about later.

And you're gonna be able to get these recipes so that you can replicate them at home.

- Oh, it sounds great.

- Yeah.

- Can I say you're my favorite sweet treat?

(both laughing) I just want, I wanna go on record saying that.

- Well, we've been making sweets and savories for like, 30 years in the kitchen here.

So anyway, we hope you're gonna enjoy the show.

And the first recipe that we're gonna make is something that I just love.

It is a tort or like a flat pie.

I don't know what to, what to call them.

- Tart.

- And it has hazelnuts and it has melted chocolate and it has, raspberries.

- Raspberries.

- So, I mean.

- How can you go wrong?

- Right, exactly.

- Hazelnut, chocolate, and raspberries.

- Now I'm going to actually start the filling.

Because we've got to heat up some heavy cream.

Exactly that amount.

And we're gonna turn the heat on that and get this to heat up.

And once it does, we're gonna add some chocolate.

You can add semi-sweet.

You can use milk chocolate is, which I'm using here because-- - [Nancy] My favorite.

- I'm sort of a, I like the milk chocolate.

It's a little sweeter and so on.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- So while that is heating up as they say, I'm going to take some hazelnuts.

I never quite understood why some people call these hazelnuts and other people call them filberts.

- [Nancy] I've never heard that.

- No.

- Say it again.

- Filberts.

- Filberts.

- Yeah, right.

So if you see them in the store and they're filberts, that's them.

- [Nancy] They're like dried chickpeas.

- I toast them.

Yeah that does look like.

Don't use dried chickpeas.

So I toast them a little bit in the toaster, just so that-- - [Nancy] I don't think it's closed.

- [Chris] No?

- [Nancy] No.

- Oh didn't go down.

Okay, there we go.

And this is gonna make a little noise.

(blending) And you wanna get that pretty fine, 'cause this is gonna be the crust for this tort.

- It's amazing what toasting hazelnuts does.

It's a completely different smell.

Completely different flavor after you toast them.

- Now I'm gonna put in half a stick.

Only a half a stick of butter.

- [Nancy] Oh, that's a new one for you.

- I know.

I usually go for the whole stick.

- Absolutely.

And did you use salted or unsalted?

- Unsalted.

I almost always cook with unsalted butter because then if I want to add salt, I can easily do that.

- To taste.

(blending) So you'll see when you get your recipe, it says use melted butter.

I don't know why I said that when I originally wrote the recipe, because this is my recipe.

- So you're making an amendment to the recipe right now?

- Well, you could just add the butter in because-- - It doesn't have.

- When you flash it in the machine here.

- Oh, so melting it doesn't hurt it.

- [Chris] No, it doesn't hurt it.

- [Nancy] But it's not necessary.

- [Chris] But it's not necessary.

- [Nancy] Well, I'm all for skipping any step we don't have to do.

- [Chris] Can you hand me the, we're gonna-- - The brown sugar.

- Some brown sugar.

Put that in there.

- That already smells good.

- Doesn't it?

- Oh my gosh.

- It's the toasted hazelnuts.

- That's what I'm insane when you toast them.

- [Chris] Okay.

So we're gonna now put this back on, and give it another roll.

- [Nancy] Smells like a, like we just walked into a coffee shop bakery.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- You know?

- Okay.

So now you'll see it, it starts to come together.

And you know, it's a little, - Yeah.

It's like a graham cracker crust.

- Exactly.

- The same consistency.

- So if we get a pan, what we're gonna do is you can use any kind of pan that has a removable bottom.

It could be a spring form pan, or it could be like a, just a tart pan, as long as it has a removable bottom.

- Okay.

- [Chris] And I'm gonna put all of this in there and we're gonna rely on your hands to-- - [Nancy] I can do that.

- [Chris] Press this down into a bottom crust.

It can go up a little bit, but it doesn't have to.

Well, we got plenty.

- [Nancy] Oh, I love it.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Nancy] Great.

- And as far as I'm concerned, the more of this the better.

(Nancy laughing) I really love the flavor of that and what it does.

And now I've got my milk is my cream is... - Since my hands are showing in that tight shot, I'm gonna just point out that the ring I'm wearing is an old typewriter key.

(Chris laughing) For you young folks, that's what we used to do to create pages with words on them before word processors and computers.

But that's an old typewriter key in case anybody's wondering what is she wearing on her finger.

- I think one of the things that I, (laughing) that I like about cooking is that it is all old fashioned in its own way.

- You're right.

- It's... - Yeah.

So we use a cuisine order or a-- - Right.

- Food proser to whip it up.

But it's still the same old fashioned principle.

- Yeah.

- All right.

- [Chris] So now I've added the chocolate into that warm.

- [Nancy] Whipping cream.

- [Chris] Whipping cream.

And I'm going to, I need a spoon to stir this around.

- A whisk.

- Oh yeah.

That'd be great.

- That would be.

- All right.

As they say, we're cooking here.

And I'm just gonna stir that until the... - [Nancy] I see a little uneven place.

- [Chris] Okay.

You got that?

- [Nancy] Yeah.

- All right.

Now while I'm doing this, I want to tell you that now you put this into the oven and you bake it at 350 until the crust is a little brown.

Okay.

- [Nancy] That's gonna smell really good.

All right.

I'm gonna pop it in the oven.

- No.

- No.

- Well make believe.

We have one that I already baked.

- Yeah.

But I wanna make sure we have a second one around.

- Oh yeah.

- Hello.

- Well, we'll do that.

Yeah.

All right.

So now I have to make sure that this is-- - [Nancy] This one's tiny.

This one's just for me.

- [Chris] I know.

(laughing) - [Nancy] This one's for the crew.

- A little bigger one.

Yeah.

Well, we had the ingredients, we would definitely make another one.

Okay.

So now I've got this.

- [Chris] How many squares of chocolate was that?

- It was six ounces.

- Six ounces of chocolate.

- Six ounces of chocolate.

- To how much whipping cream?

Half cup.

- Six ounces of whipping cream.

- Six ounces and six ounces.

Okay.

- Yeah.

All right.

So now you're gonna pour this in here.

- Oh, I love to watch chocolate pour.

It's so delicious looking.

- [Chris] And this is going, this is like a ganache, they call it.

- [Nancy] They do?

- Yeah.

Cooking terms.

You know me, I love the Escoffier terms and whatnot.

And what you want to do is to just let this sit and the chocolate will harden.

Once that has happened, you are going to...

This, it's too soft for us to do that.

- I understand.

We can't do it.

- Then you put these raspberries all over the top.

- [Nancy] Sort of decoratively placed-- - [Chris] Decoratively.

- [Nancy] Not just dumped on.

- Right.

And I'm gonna put this aside.

And if you get our finished one, it already has the... - Magnifique.

Mon dieu.

- So in this one I used just a regular, they call it a tart pan.

- [Nancy] Uh-huh.

- [Chris] And I'm going to get that out.

Okay.

Put that down.

- [Nancy] Oh, it's gorgeous.

This plate is the perfect size.

Look at how it fits right in there.

- Now the last step is to paint this with a little bit of seedless raspberry jam.

- Seedless?

- Yes.

- [Nancy] I didn't know they came.

- [Chris] I didn't.

- [Nancy] Who knew?

- [Chris] Well, you know.

- [Nancy] Oh, that gives it an elegance.

- [Chris] Doesn't it?

- [Nancy] And probably some additional flavor too.

- [Chris] Yeah, it's a little-- - [Nancy] But it's looks gorgeous with it.

- [Chris] And what you just wanna do is to make those raspberries look shiny.

And it doesn't hurt if it gets on the chocolate too.

- [Nancy] Oh, raspberries and chocolate.

Strawberries and chocolate, berries and chocolate.

It's a great, great combination.

- Well, hey, you're doing a show on sweets.

Here we are.

All right now.

- That is, it's beautiful too.

- Yeah.

- And even before I've tasted it, and I am sure it is delicious.

It is elegant looking.

- Well, here you go.

- Okay.

- I'm gonna tell you, you bring this to a, like a when you're bringing potluck, whatever.

You better bring the recipe card.

Type up this recipe and put it on the card, 'cause people are gonna wanna know.

First of all, they always ask me, where did you get that?

- It does look like you picked it up at a bakery.

At a fancy French bakery.

- So now we've gotta show you what the inside looks like and how it cuts and all that.

You could cut a small slice, but I won't.

- [Nancy] No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

- [Chris] I'm gonna cut every-- - Then it'll fall apart.

Look at how beautiful.

- Is that-- - Ladies and gentlemen.

- So there you go.

That's what it looks like.

- [Nancy] Gorgeous.

- Yeah.

It's got a... - We're gonna sample it?

- Oh, of course we are.

We have to make sure it's sweet enough.

(both laughing) Doggonit, that's good.

You know, what I like is that the chocolate is firm, but it's still really creamy.

- [Nancy] It's like a mousse.

- And the crunchy bottom is, it has that deep nut flavor.

- Oh yeah.

- And the sweetness of the raspberries on the top and the raspberry chocolate combination is just perfect.

- It really, really is.

- And as you can see, I mean, this recipe, you have to do in little stages and whatnot, but the actual work time, it's probably 15 minutes to get the whole, the actual time you spend mixing it and whatnot.

- And there's no technique that you need to perfect.

- Well, yeah.

You do have to stir me.

- You have to stir.

I would hardly call stirring a technique.

It's not like making a-- - No need to go to the-- - Bleu or.

- Cordon Bleu for that one right.

- No, no, no, no.

This is my counter recipe.

I love it.

A sweet from my sweet.

- Yes.

And this is a sweet recipe that you'll wanna replicate.

(classical music) (audience applauding) - We're back in the kitchen.

I'm here with Gina Pravlochak.

- Yes.

- Did I say that right, Gina?

- Yes.

- I always like to get the last name.

Now I have to say that this recipe to us in a previous show that we did when your nana was here.

- Yes.

- And she made what you call?

- Italian Love, Nana's Italian Love cake.

- Nana's Italian Love Cake.

I had never seen a cake like this before.

This was so unique.

And so I thought we're gonna do "Sweets", let's do Nana's Italian love cake in her memory.

- Touches my heart.

Yes.

- And I'm so glad that you're here to do it.

We're gonna, you start by making just a regular cake.

- Right.

Just a regular cake.

She always liked this brand in particular.

- Not gonna say the name.

- Not gonna say the name.

- But there it is.

But that's what she likes.

- She always started with the cake mix.

- So you just follow the directions on the box to make the cake.

So it calls for three eggs.

And it calls for a half a cup of oil.

- [Gina] Half a cup of oil.

- [Chris] And a cup of water.

- And a cup of water.

- And now we're gonna make a lot of noise.

- Okay.

- [Chris] Just for a short period of time.

All right.

Well this is actually pretty quiet.

But it's so much more than a plain cake.

- It is and it surprises you.

Everybody always is surprised at what it turns out.

And little kids, if you have little kids in your family, they love this part.

Can't let them lick the batter of course.

But they love to be in there and make a mess a little bit of the kitchen.

And she always let us in and always let us cook.

It was always a fun time.

- [Chris] So that's nice and smooth now.

- [Gina] Yeah.

- And I'm gonna take those out so we can undrip them.

- Okay.

- And if you wanna put that, oh, we gotta pan.

- We have to, where's this spray?

Okay.

- Yeah, we're gonna, you get a nine by 13 pan.

- Right.

- And you're gonna spray it with a little Pam so it doesn't stick at the bottom.

- On the pam, doesn't stick.

There you go.

- All right.

- And then.

- I'll hold it?

- Do that and I'll scoop it.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Teamwork.

There we go.

- [Chris] Makes me feel like I'm useful here.

- [Gina] Yeah.

Nice and easy.

Just get everything in there.

- Now when would she make this cake for birthdays or special occasions or?

- So she was famous for it.

So she would bring it everywhere.

Every event we had was Nana's Italian love cake.

And so now that she's gone, we still make it and it's like a part of her is still at the table and still at the event.

- Oh, that's great.

- And it's great.

And everybody loves it because it's sweet.

It tastes almost like a cheesecake, but you got the cake in there too.

- [Chris] All right.

I'm gonna leave you to the decorating part.

You're just gonna.

- So then you wanna put the chocolate, I just like to make some lines, almost like a little checkerboard pattern here.

- [Chris] Okay, that's good.

- [Gina] Get out all of it out.

Okay.

- [Chris] Waste not one.

- Right.

Okay.

- I'm sure your Nana never wasted anything.

- Oh my goodness.

And never used anything, low fat, calorie free, everything was always full fat.

Okay.

And then I just like to swirl it.

And I really like to get the chocolate under here.

She would always, when we were little, she'd let us do this part because it was kind of artistic and messy.

- Yeah.

And it looks wonderful as you do it.

It's like you're an artist here with those.

- Right.

Which I'm not, but that's that.

So that's the cake.

That's the cake part.

- All right.

And then this goes in as whatever it says in the oven three, whatever-- - Well we have to make, we have to make this.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh that's right.

It goes on before.

Oh I'm sorry.

- This is the special part.

So we're gonna crack those four eggs.

- Four eggs.

This is one of my specialties.

- Something that she always used to do while we were making this, is she always put on music.

And she made you dance and sing and cook at the same time.

So it was more than just cooking this cake.

It was a memory that went with the cake.

So when you heard those songs, you were thinking, oh I danced, I danced to this in Nana's kitchen.

So then you put.

- I can rinse that if you'd like.

- Yeah, we can.

- Yeah.

- Then you take 24 ounces of Ricotta cheese.

I'm just gonna keep doing the recipe.

Okay.

I'll wait for you, for this.

Then I just put this all in there like that.

Make sure you get it all out.

All right.

Then she used a tablespoon of vanilla, but she never really measured vanilla.

Okay.

And then the sugar.

All righty.

Okay.

And that was what?

Three fourth cup of sugar.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Gina] Then just mix it on up.

Just light.

(mixing) Yep.

Yeah, it's pretty simple, but it's delicious.

It's not too, too sweet.

- [Chris] I wanna get those eggs mixed in well - [Gina] Yep.

Mix the eggs.

- But I've never heard of this in relation a box cake.

This is totally new.

- It almost has a cheesecake texture.

So everybody, it's when you bring it somewhere, everyone's always surprised.

They think it takes a really long time, but it doesn't.

I think that's probably pretty good.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Okay.

- Okay.

Is it mixed up?

- Oh yeah.

- So this is the part that everybody liked.

- Do you wanna scooper?

- Get us a scooper.

Yeah.

Maybe this.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

So you just scoop it on.

Just layer it on.

No fancy way of doing it.

The younger the kids, the messier it is, but she always let everybody help.

'Cause if you're helping, you're more inclined to eat it, right?

- [Chris] Right.

- Because you wanna taste it.

- Well that's how I got my kids to be more adventurous.

with their palate.

And that was to, if they make it, then they wanna.

- They wanna taste it.

- Share it.

Yeah.

They wanna see how it came out.

- And they're proud of it.

Okay.

So there we go.

Now it goes into the oven.

So the Ricotta mixture's on top, the cake is on the bottom.

Then we put it in the oven just like this.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- And then as if by magic.

- And then magically appears is a cooked cake.

Okay.

So the Ricotta then transfers to the bottom, like a cheesecake crust and then the cake's on top.

And then you just-- - [Chris] Wow.

Okay, I'll it when I see it but.

- Yeah, then you just ice it.

And what we do is take some cool whip and some chocolate pudding.

The instant pudding that you make with milk.

And then you just kind of ice it.

Make sure it's nice and cold or else this will melt as well.

- [Chris] Well this cake has been cool.

- This has been cold.

- Yeah.

So that's-- - So it's cooked and cold.

- That's better.

- Yep.

And then you just put it on nice and easy.

- Gee, I could use a bowl of just the-- - [Gina] I know.

(laughing) Now they could, everybody can lick this spatula, but not the cake one.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Yeah.

Well that's a good thing to have.

Lickable stuff for kids.

- They love it.

They love it.

Any icing is good icing, right?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

So I like to layer it on-- - Are your kids good cooks?

- Yes, they are.

I mean, they grew up, cooking and dancing and singing.

But they actually, I kind of forced them into it when, yeah.

(Gina laughing) - [Chris] There you go.

Okay.

- So that is the finished product.

- All right.

I got.

- Got some plates.

- A little, a plate.

- Okay.

- I can't wait to see what this looks like.

- Yeah.

- Would you refrigerate this?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- I would put it in the refrigerator - Normally.

- Normally, yes.

Put it in the refrigerator so everything colds and chills together and then you bring it out.

And if it's a picnic and it's hot maybe keep it in there for a while until it sets up.

But yeah, you're gonna be surprised what it looks like.

And every single picnic we bring this.

And it's delicious.

I can't wait for you to try it.

- I am gonna try to get that nice centerpiece.

- Oh yeah.

- Whoop.

- Oh, that's okay.

You can still see what happened.

So see how the cheesecake?

- [Chris] Mhmm.

- [Gina] The cake, the icing.

- And the marbling rose up to the top.

- Right.

Right.

It's just a really pretty cake.

- That is beautiful.

- And it looks like you spent way more time than you did, right?

- Absolutely.

All right.

- All right.

- You know the proof, as they say.

- The proof is in-- - Is in the Nana Cake.

- And here's what we always did.

Make sure you get a little bit of everything.

- Yep.

- And then we'll do this.

Hold on, I'm having trouble getting mine on.

We do.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Taste the cheesecake in there, but it's not really cheesecake.

Not sure what it is, but then you're like, wait, it's Nana's Italian love cake.

- Yeah.

Well, Gina, thank you for sharing this recipe and sharing your family story with us.

- Of course.

- Because, you know, these aren't just recipes, they are family stories.

All the recipes that people send to us, they send to us because they mean something within their families and their lives.

And we want all of our viewers to be able to have a chance to create their own traditions, but maybe use somebody else's recipe if they'd like.

Or just adopt all the recipes in the book as your traditions.

And that's what they'll become.

So thanks again, Gina.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- It's always wonderful to see you and to enjoy Nana's genius.

- Oh, I'm happy to.

- And Nana's Italian Love Cake.

(audience applauding) - We've already had some really sweet treats, but you can't get anything sweeter than a truffle a chocolate truffle.

And I have Kathy Geiger with me.

Kathy has been in our kitchen many times and I notice you have this recipe for-- - Chocolate truffles.

- Truffles.

I call them trifles because it's just a triffling thing.

They're called truffles right?

- They are.

- Okay.

- And these have a kick to them.

- So let's get started cooking Kathy.

- What we're gonna start with is a stick eight ounces.

- A stick of butter.

- Or a tablespoons of unsalted butter.

- Yeah.

- And then we have eight ounces of chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate.

And you could either use the pieces or if you want to use chocolate chips, it's about a cup and a third.

So we're gonna melt that down.

And while that's melting, we're going to mix up, which we already have them mixed up here.

You're going to, in the food processor pulverize, these are ginger snaps and they make a great addition to the filling.

And you can get these at any grocery store and they're very crisp.

So when you put them into the food processor, you have to make sure that they're very fine.

Whenever you finish.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- So we'll put-- - So we have-- - Put those to the side and use this to as a mixing bowl.

- So while the chocolate's melting.

- I'm gonna stir it a little bit.

- You can stir it up.

And this includes Jack Daniels, whiskey.

- Whiskey.

- Yeah.

It's not too strong.

There's three tablespoons.

You can all also add different, I've added apple brandy to it before and that tastes really good.

So you can try different things with this truffle recipe.

Once the chocolate's melted with the butter, we're going to add the ginger snap crumbs and the whiskey.

And then you have to refrigerate that mixture for 45 minutes.

So we've already have that, we already have that part prepared.

- Right.

Well, I'm gonna show, I wanna show the mixing of it.

'Cause it really surprised me when I made a sample of this that how well these things go together to make a sort of a nice thing with good body to it.

I'm gonna just leave it in here.

So that we don't dirty another bowl and you're just gonna put that in here.

- So we're going to add two third cup of the ginger snap cookies and there's three tablespoons of Jack Daniels whiskey.

Okay.

- Now it's quite loose.

Whoop, it is quite loose at this point.

- So once it's all mixed up, you can actually just put the pan into the refrigerator or put it into a separate bowl.

And if you find that 45 minutes is not long enough, you can put it back in for another 15 minutes if you'd like.

- [Chris] And we're gonna put this in the fridge.

- So while it's in the fridge, you can always mix together.

Now this is gonna be the coating for the truffles and there's powdered sugar and you're gonna just put it through the sifter so it's smooth and cocoa powder.

- [Chris] Okay.

- [Kathy] So we can just mix that up.

- [Chris] Yeah, well you could have.

- [Kathy] Okay.

- Get that through there.

- So this is what we're going to roll the truffles into after we take them out of the freezer actually.

- See a lot of the truffles that I've had you dip in melted chocolate.

Have you seen those?

- I've decorated them also with like white chocolate, melted white chocolate and or you can roll 'em in sugar.

There's a lot of different things that you can do with them.

Okay.

So we-- - All right, so now you, let's say this has been cooled and it's like gummy and whatnot.

Now you gotta.

- Yeah, it's a little thick.

So you'll take it out of the refrigerator and then roll it into ball or put it into balls and let it go into the freezer for about 15 minutes.

- Okay.

You got some of those right?

- We do.

- Okay.

So when you take them out of the freezer, they're easier to work with and they won't melt in your hands.

So you're gonna roll them into balls, which we-- - [Chris] Pretty much done.

- Sorta did that already.

And then you're gonna roll them in the cocoa powdered sugar mixture, and then you can just set them back on the tray.

- [Chris] Now I want to do one just in the-- - [Kathy] Just powdered sugar.

- Powdered sugar.

- You can also make these ahead of time and freeze them if you wanna make them for the holidays.

But you would stop at this stage.

You wait until the very end to actually roll them in, whatever you wanna roll them in.

And they're also good rolled in the ginger snap crumbs.

- Well that would be nice because then you could...

If you just did the, the white ones and the brown ones with the ginger snap crumbs and then the cocoa powder ones, you'd have a nice variety.

I'll do one more of these.

And they are sticky enough that the coating goes on them.

All right.

Well, talking about ready to serve them, you have some that you've already rolled out and everything.

- Then you can also, I'm sure everyone has seen the paper cups.

- Uh-huh.

- And if you have a cookie tray, they're a nice addition for the cookie tray.

- [Chris] Well, let's cut into one of these and see what it looks like.

- [Nancy] Okay.

- I'm gonna get a little knife here.

There you go, and.

- I was gonna eat the whole thing.

- [Chris] Well, I will eat the whole thing.

I just wanted to know what it looked like.

It's just creamy and soft.

- Right, you don't even see the cookie crumbs in there.

- Oh boy.

Is that good?

First of all, the ginger snaps are perfect.

That combination of chocolate and ginger snap, I would never have put together.

The liquor flavor is pretty prominent.

You know you're biting into something.

- But I don't think it's too strong.

- Oh, no, no, no, no.

I mean, if you figure out over this recipe.

There's like two drops of alcohol in-- - In each one.

- In each one.

So it's not gonna make anybody crazy and start putting on funny hats.

But this is a recipe that I know that you're gonna want to have for your repertoire.

It's in the "Sweets" cookbook.

This is very sweet.

Kathy, as always, you have something that is always simple and simply delicious.

- Thank you.

- And we'd love to have you back again.

- Thank you Chris.

I love being here.

- If the occasion arises.

Thanks a lot.

- You know, we're back in the kitchen.

I'm here with my kitchen magician, Joe Certo, who has helped us on our cooking shows for what I believe years.

- Many years.

- A lot of years.

A lot of years.

But also, I mean, Joe's a friend and so we eat at each other's houses.

I much prefer to eat at your house than have you eat at my, - It's a reverse.

- Yeah.

And when we said we were gonna do a show on sweets, then I thought, I have got to have Joe come on and make his double or chocolate biscotti.

Because I think of, I mean that's the way I love to end a meal, is with a biscotti and a nice little cup of-- - Vin Santo.

- Vin Santo.

Oh no.

Yeah.

- Or espresso.

- Or espresso.

But the Vin Santo is not bad.

So this is a recipe that you make, but you could alter this in a hundred different ways.

- Many ways.

- But you gotta have the basic for a good solid biscotti.

And that's what we got here.

So tell us what to do and we'll help you do it.

- We have some butter, we have two sticks of butter.

- Right, so it's a double batch for me.

- [Joe] Double batch.

Some butter and a cup and three quarters of sugar.

We're gonna cream that.

- I'll put it on the machine.

Backwards I gotta do it.

- The paddle's right there.

I use the paddle for this.

I'm be sure you do too.

- Yes.

- Because that's a great way to break up the butter.

Rather than try to use a whisk or something like that.

Okay.

Bowl up.

- Power on.

(mixing) And we just, we wanna cream that and build some air into it and that'll help make the cookie a little bit lighter.

- Lighter.

And I use, and your recipe says to leave the butter out so that it's soft.

It's not like right out of the refrigerator.

- No.

- Now it's cranked up.

- We're good.

And then we have six eggs, which will slow the mixer down.

- Yes.

Please.

- And six eggs.

We'll add those, hopefully one at a time.

- And the reason for that?

- You wanna beat it in.

Sometimes if you just dump all the eggs in, sometimes you get this curly looking mess.

Not that, that-- - Wouldn't hurt it?

- [Joe] Yeah yeah.

But why.

- Well, I always find that the first one is the hardest.

And then after that, you just put 'em in.

Ooh.

Yeah.

I know we add, when I go to visit my daughter in Rome, biscotti are a part of our everyday life because they're everywhere.

And then you and I were talking about, what are those little tiny?

- The kinda.

- The little tiny biscotti but you just make them shorter.

- Oh biscottini.

- Yeah.

Right.

All right.

That's whipping up pretty good.

And now I'm going to cut that off and lower it and just scrape that down a little.

I got one here.

- You have one there?

- Yeah.

And this is gonna make the basis for the biscotti.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- And that this'll get nice and creamy and the eggs will fluff and all of that.

So put it up again and give it a. I love this machine.

It has a slow start.

- Start yeah it kicks in slowly.

- All right.

The magic of television, we're gonna say.

- That's what we were gonna say.

We have five cups of flour, cup of cocoa, and some powdered instant espresso.

- Yeah.

- And that'll bump the cocoa flavor.

- Coco flavor.

All right.

- So we can mix these all together.

- Okay.

And this is just regular household flour.

All purpose.

- All purpose flour.

- You don't need to use special biscotti flour or anything?

- No, no.

Now this is some baking soda.

Or is this powder or soda?

- [Chris] Baking powder it is.

- [Joe] Powder, powder, powder.

Yeah.

Don't wanna mix in those.

- [Chris] It's in the recipe.

- [Joe] Yes.

- It's in the book.

- Okay.

And then you could sift this all together.

You can just mix it up.

We're gonna really beating the daylights out of these.

- [Chris] So can you sneak it in there?

- [Joe] Yeah.

- As I mix, or do you wanna put a bunch in and?

- Just a little bit of vanilla too.

Teaspoon of vanilla.

We'll get that in.

And then we'll-- - Tell you what.

Put some in there.

And we will get it started, and then you can add to that.

'Cause this has all gotta mix together until it's nice and smooth.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Oh boy.

Cocoa powder.

It's in every crevice in your house if you make anything.

- It is.

- All right.

Let's try that.

And now just keep adding it in, Joe.

I'll make the cloud.

- This ends up a really stiff dough too.

- But that's what you need for the biscotti right?

- Yeah.

- So as I was saying, the biscotti are a part of life there.

And I will often have them for breakfast, if there's something-- - Absolutely.

With your coffee.

- And then I always have one at night with another espresso or a little glass of wine.

That's good.

And I remember my great-grandfather.

That was what, the whole meal could go by.

He could care less what kind of pasta we had or whatever.

But what he wanted at the end was that glass of wine, and a biscotti, and he'd dip and dip and dip and dip.

All right.

We're gonna add all of that.

Then we're gonna add some other ingredients.

But this is totally up to you.

- Now we added the cocoa powder in there.

You could certainly eliminate the cocoa powder and go with a, sort of a.

- I'm gonna add some chocolate chips, and you're gonna add some almonds.

- [Joe] Okay.

- [Chris] Don't be stingy.

I love them.

- [Joe] Oh, I got 'em.

- So now this gets mixed and then it's really thick.

I gotta see if I can get this down.

All right.

There we go.

And we'll see if we can get that out.

- Sure.

- Work on the board here, because you're gonna have to cool this, right?

- [Joe] Right.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- Right now, if you tried to work it, you could, but it's a little, it's a little more difficult.

You cool it a little bit and all that butter sets up again and, it's much easier to work with there.

- And then you form it into logs.

- Yes.

- All right.

Let's make one log at least.

And show what the shape of it is.

I gotta get all this mixed in.

There.

- Okay.

- And usually outta this I'll make two.

You could, if you want smaller, if you want the smaller biscotti.

- Biscottini.

- Yeah.

- It depends, like, you want the little, you wanna put, you wanna eat six or seven, then you make 'em smaller.

You want eat two, you can make 'em bigger.

- So you put these on a baking tray and bake them until they're the, until they come out clean.

- Exactly.

- Oh like you stick it with a thing.

And I have one here that's already baked.

I'm gonna bring it over.

That's not too hot now.

- No.

- Let's see is that.

- And the idea is that now you slice it and turn the slices on their sides on the same tray.

- [Joe] Now this is still a little bit warm.

- Is it?

Yeah, you do have to let it rest a little bit.

Otherwise it won't cut right.

So then you lay them on their side.

- Yeah.

And I've even done that.

- Oh, really?

- And then so they sort of, they bake on both sides.

- You have to turn 'em?

- No - No, no, this is... Let's try over here because this is still warm.

- Then you bake these again until they're nice and the sort of thick Christmas that you like right.

- And it's the, biscotti twice baked.

- That's what biscotti means.

And fortunately we have some-- - We have.

- That have been biscotti, twice cooked.

- There you go.

- And that's what they look like.

And I mean, I just.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

- You know but-- - They have a little snap to them.

- But they're not gonna break your teeth.

- No, no.

- You know.

- That's some biscotti.

Joe, thank you.

- You are welcome.

- For always sharing your terrific recipes with us and for your friendship with these cooking shows.

An I don't mind getting your chocolate on my hands.

(lively music) - You know, Nancy, over the years, you and I have done a lot of these shows and we've done local ones and we've done the national ones.

- Yep.

- But way in the past when we were still shooting in standard definition, we weren't even in high definition television.

We had a person who came on our show.

Her name was Penny Lawrence.

- Oh, I remember her.

- And Penny Lawrence was a genius of a baker and cook.

- She was a pro.

- She was.

- Yeah, because she came in in a white chief jacket.

- She had a chef thing.

But this was a recipe that I knew everybody could make and should make.

After I tasted it, I said, you know, this is something you gotta add to your repertoire.

And it-- - I remember.

- And it involves something that I'm always afraid of.

And this is the... A lot of Greek recipes use this.

- [Nancy] The phyllo dough.

- Phyllo or Filo, I don't know.

I don't know what you say but it.

But you buy it in a store.

And the recipes always have like, you take it out and you butter it and you take it.

- Layer it.

- Oh my goodness.

And it starts cracking.

- Yes.

- And all of that.

I go crazy.

All right.

So this-- - I remember the name of this had the word bird nest in it.

- Yeah.

Bird nest blueberry strudel.

- Strudel.

Strudel.

Blueberry bird nest strudel .

- So what I have is some water in here and I'm gonna put some sugar.

- Whoop.

- It's been sitting next to the heat.

- Yes.

Started to crack.

I want to get the amount so you'll know.

Well you can get the cookbook.

But it's a cup of sugar and a cup of water.

So that's going to, make it like syrup.

And I'm gonna get that to boil.

All right.

- [Nancy] Okay.

- And while that is coming to a boil, tick toc, tick toc, toc.

- You're literally watching a pot boil.

- Well here's the thing, 'cause there's other stuff to do.

And one of those things to do is to cut the phyllo.

And you don't have to worry about it.

- No, you don't have to separate it and butter it.

You just cut it into strips.

- Yeah.

Well she said-- - Because I went home and this was like, I don't even, 30 years ago.

I went home and made it right away, 'cause it was such a great recipe.

- It was 30 years ago.

(both laughing) So she said three-inch strips, but I actually cut it into slightly smaller ones.

It's up to you if you wanna make them into a little tiny strips.

- I made them in more like a fettuccine.

- Oh, you did.

- That's how I did it.

Because I was stuck on the word bird nest.

So I really wanted it to look bird nesty.

- So here take some and we gotta unravel them and put them in here into this bowl.

You gotta have a big bowl.

We get a big bowl.

And if you have-- - [Nancy] This stuff feels so great - [Chris] Young children, they can do this.

- [Nancy] It's like ribbons.

- Yeah, it is.

And you don't wanna leave this out too long because this dough dries and starts to crack.

I mean almost-- - [Nancy] It really does.

Almost immediately.

- [Chris] Within minutes.

Yeah.

But right now it's still pliable.

And we're gonna put this in here.

- Okay.

Are we doing all of it?

- No, we're gonna do half of it right now.

So I think one more.

We'll do it.

And my water is, and sugar syrup is coming to a boil.

- Look at that.

I wanna tie these into bows.

- All right.

Now here's the fun part and the part.

- This is the fun.

This is fun.

- Well that's a fun part.

- Okay.

But what's more fun?

- What's more fun is soaking yourself in butter.

- Oh, yeah.

- Because what you have done is you have melted two sticks of butter and we're going to drizzle some butter on this.

Just drizzle it over the top.

And that's.

- [Nancy] About half of it?

- [Chris] Yeah, about half.

And now you gotta get in there.

- [Nancy] With your hands.

Go for it.

- [Chris] Well, I mean you could use forks or something like that.

- I'll have a towel standing by when you're done.

- [Chris] And you wanna separate them and get them.

- Coated.

I'm gonna step back.

I don't wanna get.

'Cause I don't wanna get butter on this shirt.

You're wearing an apron.

I foolishly forgot to wear one.

- This is fun.

But it's really, you get butter all over everything.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

Not every strip has to be-- - [Nancy] Fully coated.

- They will get coated by proximity to the other ones that are there.

And, but you'll see, you want to keep it a little fluffy.

You don't want it to get tied down by the butter.

And now what I'm gonna ask you to do is to-- - With my clean hands.

- With your nice clean hands, is to spread this around the bottom of that buttered casserole.

- Can do.

The whole thing?

- Yeah.

You can just pour it in and then and then shuffle it around.

- Okay.

- And you don't wanna press it down.

- No.

Good.

Otherwise we don't have a bird nest.

- Right.

Now in the meantime, I need these blueberries.

I'm gonna put half of the blueberries into this syrup.

That's exactly half.

- I trust you.

Those are big, fat, fluffy blueberries.

- Aren't they?

So now you're going to cook this until the blueberries start to give off color and whatnot.

And you're also going to add some other ingredients to it.

And that is a tablespoon of lemon juice.

I like to use, obviously, fresh lemons.

- [Nancy] Fresh lemons of course.

- And nutmeg, which is an ingredient, which you can buy it in jars and you know, just spoon it out.

But I like to use-- - Fresh look at you.

You're gonna grate it.

- I have a little nut egg grater that I got and I'm gonna just grate it in here fresh.

- I've never seen anything that nutmeg that wasn't in a jar.

- I know.

- I didn't realize it was an actual nut.

Honest to gosh this is an education for me, and I know I sound really naive, but.

- You can buy these at lots of stores, any cooking store or whatever will have them.

And the flavor is so much in more intense than what's been sitting in the jar.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Don't you, you know.

- Woo.

Okay.

- And now I'm gonna add just two tablespoons of butter to this.

- [Nancy] Because we don't have enough butter in this recipe yet.

- [Chris] Right.

- Not according to the Chris Fennimore rule of cooking.

Begin with two full sticks of butter and then add.

- Well here's here.

Okay.

This has gotta cook.

And meanwhile we're gonna do the second set of our phyllo.

- Okay.

- Knock it out.

- Ooh.

Can already tell this is drier than it was before.

But it's also a little easier to separate as a result.

- Well the other thing is that this comes into a casserole that is great to bring to a-- - Anything.

- A potluck.

- Yep.

- Or a church meeting or whatever.

And people are gonna think that you went to Greece and learned how to do this.

- [Nancy] Where'd you do, how?

- Well we have Penny to thank for this one because I've never heard of a recipe like this at all.

Where you break up the phyllo dough and-- - And then you get the benefit of that taste of the phyllo without all that.

- The crunch and the taste and you didn't have to worry about it crackling and whatnot.

I love to go to the, in our town, we have a Greek food festival.

- Oh, I missed it this year.

- It's a wonderful way to share those foods.

And when we have our cooking shows, all of these different nationalities of people submit their favorite recipes 'cause they're so proud of them.

And we're glad to include them in all of our books.

So you'll find great diversity in them.

All right, we're gonna do it again.

Should I do this again?

- Yes.

Because your hands are already buttery and just the tips of my fingers are.

- [Chris] Okay.

- [Nancy] So we're gonna maintain the division of labor that we've already established.

- [Chris] I'm gonna just keep flipping it around.

- [Nancy] Oh, I smell nothing but nutmeg now.

- Yeah.

- It's just nutmeg just permeating this little space we're in.

- It's a great flavor.

And there's no other flavoring in here except that the natural flavor of the blueberries and the lemon.

But it's not complex.

It's not.

All right.

So now we're gonna put this aside.

- Okay.

- I think it's fairly well coated.

- Enough?

- Yeah.

- For sure.

- One more little thing.

Oh, I'm gonna put it in there.

All right.

So now you can see the blueberries have come to a boil.

- Yes they have.

Made me look like a blueberry soup.

- Yeah.

And the blueberries have started to break open and give their color to this, which is how I know it's really ready.

- Okay.

- Right now I'm gonna add the rest of the blueberries.

- Oh, so they're not gonna cook as much?

- No.

- They're gonna remain whole.

- [Chris] Well this is gonna go in the oven.

So did I lose one?

- [Nancy] You did.

- [Chris] Run away.

- [Nancy] Join your friends.

- All right, we'll put that over there.

I am going to give this a good stir.

- That calmed it down.

- Yeah.

Well the other blueberries are nice and cool from the fridge.

So if we put that up there now.

This is one layer and now we're gonna pour this layer over the top.

- [Nancy] I love blueberries and they're full of antioxidants.

- So this is actually healthy cooking.

- So, yeah.

I'm feeling so healthy, just looking at it.

- Okay.

Now again, nice and fluffy, and put these in there.

Separate them if they're stuck together with their butter.

But you wanna make sure you cover the whole thing.

- Yep.

Even the phyllo and the butter smells good.

Phyllo, Filo, we need to get, we need a definitive answer on that.

- You say tomato.

- Or maybe it's the same like they say one way in Boston and they say it another way in the south.

What do I know?

- Yeah.

- But we need to consult with the Greeks.

- Have we got it all?

Yeah.

Well there's one more little piece at the bottom.

All right, so now this looks nice.

- Looks messy like a bird's nest.

- It actually looks like a bird's nest.

There you go.

All right, so now this goes in the oven.

Let me see for how long.

You wanna put this in the oven for... Oh, you wanna cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

Cook it for 30 minutes - Here.

- And then you take the aluminum foil off and you cook it for another 25 minutes until it gets nice and crispy brown on the top.

This will cook the berries and the phyllo.

- Underneath.

- Underneath.

And then-- - You'll crisp up the top part.

- Yeah, I'm just gonna put-- - Here, I'll do that.

- Okay.

And then what you end up with is something nice and crispy.

I made a smaller batch just so we can have a sample here.

And let me have that towel please.

You're gonna, okay.

You could see how nice and crunchy.

It's settled a little bit, but I have a feeling it's still gonna be crunchy.

- Oh, I think it's gonna be delicious.

- Now we're going to put a little bit-- - [Nancy] Pretty it up a little.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Pretty it with some powdered sugar.

- [Nancy] Sweeten it up a little bit too.

- Yeah.

And there are a lot of people who say, I made your recipe and it's much better with whipped cream or ice cream.

- Ice cream.

- As an accompaniment.

But I like the berry flavor so much.

- You just want it naked.

- I just want it like that.

So let's dig in.

- [Nancy] You get no arguments from me.

Oh, listen to that crunch.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- [Nancy] Okay.

- [Chris] So it actually, because there's a bottom, it actually comes out in pieces.

You can cut it into little squares.

- [Nancy] Very easily, yes.

- [Chris] Whatnot.

So have a taste.

- I will.

I will.

I need no further encouragement.

- And here's a shout out to our friend and supporter Penny Lawrence for contributing this and many other recipes.

To our cooking shows.

Oh yeah.

- That's a great fruity dessert.

- It is.

And we have several of these nice fruity things, not just sweets, but I mean, fruity is sweet and they are in our brand new cookbook called-- - "Sweets".

- "Sweets".

(lively music) (gentle music)