A night to affogato...

... and of course chocolate-dipped pistachio biscotti.
















Last Friday I broke in my KitchenAid mixer... the first stick of butter creamed, the first cup of sugar poured in, the first dust of flour mixed in and a sprinkle of perfectly roasted pistachios, all into my beautiful bowl of stainless steel. The theme - simple Italian dolce.

We had friends over for our version of affogato, simple vanilla ice cream drowned in a rich hot espresso. We havent used our espresso machine in a while and a friend of mine decided to make a night of it. So earlier in the day I had my first attempt in making biscotti, an Italian twice-baked cookie. The reason for baking it twice, interestingly was so they could keep for longer, but that doesnt stand true for my house or friends. And of course I first looked up one of my go-to's FoodNetwork and found Tyler Florence's pistachio biscotti and the raving reviews. The only thing I tweaked, I added a half teaspoon of almond essence, my favorite flavor of the year, and I dipped some of them in some melted semi-sweet chocolate. My husband who wasnt totally convinced of the yumminess of biscotti or a fan of espresso for that matter immediately wanted his very own glass of the beautiful marriage between the warm bitterness and the cold sweet ice cream.

Now, if only I had a nice clear glass to give justice to this beautiful cream and dark colored after-dinner treat. Maybe I should look into getting more barware, just for nights like this.