Yeasty UPrising...Leaven, Learn: Berlusconi Loves to Dip His Biscotti

Oh, Italy. So NOT sexy....

Italian Prime Minister Silivo Berlusconi has been indicted for purchasing sex from an underage girl, the latest in his long list of tawdry behavior.
This time he was found out in having an affair with an underage prostitute, whom he bailed out of jail for theft at one point.

I almost want to feel bad for his wife of 20 years, except that she met him while dancing naked and had an affair with him that ruined his previous marriage. It is always a wonder how people could be surprised when their cheater cheats on them. You may recall that he has also placed "showgirl" style TV hosts into politics. What a cad!

What you've got to love about the guy is his defense, saying, it is "better to be passionate about a beautiful girl than a gay."
While this was not intended to offend gay people, he was saying that at least he's not some evangelical Republican having gay sex while pretending to be straight and narrow. I get it.

Italy photos taken by the Guavaras in 2005 on vacation

To sum it up, he's offensive to women, derogatory, creepy, just unlikable.Women all over Italy and the world are holding protests over this behavior, while he seems to blow off his crimes like they are just campy and not criminal. The men of Italy might agree, as they don't want to be called out on their bad behavior, either. Benedetto Bruno, a retired chemist with Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, says in the New York Times about the issue, “I hate to say this, but Italians don’t want to respect laws, they don’t want to pay taxes, they want to do as they like, and he personifies this.”

To "celebate" Berlusconi's indictment, we break bread with Italian Biscotti. Interesting thing about biscotti is that it is phallic, you pop in some cherries, bake it twice to let it harden, but you have to dip it in something warm and wet, like COFFEE, and only then is it really yummy. Otherwise it is just a dried up, crusty & kind of stale. Like some politicians.
What's sad about this, is Italy could be so sexy, if only the men weren't such COWS.

UPrising

We find this technique in the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, however Chef Guavara has modified the recipe here:

1-3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 TBS butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 whole almonds, toasted and chopped
2 TBS orange zest
Chef Guavara added dried cherries, about 1 cup chopped, but use what you like

Set oven to 350.
Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar to fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and almond extract. Slowly add in dry ingredients until combined. Fold in cherries and almonds until combined.

Cut dough in two, press each into a 2"x13" log. Bake for 35 minutes, turning halfway through.