Baking with Gwyneth

Because of course, we chat on the phone and internet and exchange recipes....not. Yes, I shamelessly wrote that headline to get your attention.  I tried out a recipe printed recently in the Toronto Star - apparently she lets her kids have these at breakfast  - they are made with barley flour, finely chopped almonds, oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and jam filling...yum.

December always brings out the baking frenzy - it harkens back to my days as a university student - when I would procrastinate during exams and do Christmas baking.  I have already made some Gingerbread Biscotti, some Green Tea and Walnut Biscotti and now these....soon Shortbread, maybe some Chocolate Cherry cookeis, some Pecan Sandies and the piece de resistance a Holiday Bread - stuffed with dried fruits and nuts.  Some years I have even made that Tuscan treat - Panforte - which I fell in love with in Sienna...sort of compressed spicy fruitcake - therefore easily portable in luggage.

It would be nice to spend Christmas in Italy or in Europe...and I was thinking even New York as I watched "Elf" the other night...Buon Natale.