Dear Reader,

I thought I’d start a little email series to show you what I get up to in the kitchen each week — especially when I’m not filming recipes. I have a big collection of European cookbooks, and sometimes I try recipes just for fun, without the camera and filming equipment.

Like you, I love culinary exploration, and I want to share more of what I discover. When I do film recipes, it often takes double or even triple the time it normally would, so I can only share a select few video recipes each month.

These emails are just a casual peek into what’s happening in my kitchen — no filming, just baking for the joy of it.

And if you’d like me to go deeper on any recipe I mention, just hit reply and let me know. I’d love to add your request to my list of future videos.

Now that the housekeeping’s out of the way… let’s get to the baking!

When I was at the library with my kids the other day, I picked up this book on southern Italian cuisine.

Of course, I immediately flipped to the bread and dessert sections — because that’s what I always do. There were quite a few recipes I want to try, especially the sourdough breads made with lievito madre, the Italian sourdough starter that’s thicker (about 50% hydration) than the wetter versions most people are used to.

But what really caught my eye was a cookie from Puglia that I actually had all the ingredients for. It’s called u’ piscquett’l in the local dialect, or biscotti di Ceglie in Italian.

This is the signature cookie of the town of Ceglie Messapica, and it just happens to be naturally gluten-free. The dough is almond flour-based and flavored with lemon zest and rosolio all’arancia, an orange liqueur. Traditionally, it’s filled with cherry jam.

I didn’t have rosolio all’arancia, so I used Grand Marnier since that’s what I had on hand.

What’s fun about these cookies is that they’re assembled a bit like sushi. You press the dough onto parchment, spread it with jam, and then roll it up using the parchment. The log is sliced into bite-sized pieces and baked. If you don’t count the baking time, I’d say this is a fifteen-minute recipe.

These turned out great — nutty and chewy, with a citrus tang in the background. The combination of almond, cherry, and citrus made for a unique flavor. I really enjoyed them.

Until next week, happy baking!

Kristin