SMS: Sour Cherry and Almond Biscotti

This week's recipe for the Sweet Melissa Bakers was Sour Cherry and Almond Biscotti which was selected this week  by Tracey of Made by Tray Tray.  And you have got to go to her website because she gets to list the recipe there and it is well worth the the visit. Yummy recipe. Thanks Tracey!

That said, I'm just grateful it turned out. We're talking a serious substitution made in the recipe here. I blame myself for not thinking ahead when planning the recipe...only excuse I can make is that  I've been distracted this past week with hounding my rental office for my new lease as the current one is expiring at the end of this month. Long story short, I panic easily (I'll be evicted sort of thing) and they were late in getting it to me. So when I was at the store this morning picking up almonds and cherries, I though idly of picking up butter just to be on the safe side but then decided against it convinced I knew I  had picked up butter the last time I was there.

I hadn't.

There was no butter in the house. None. Well maybe a tiny sliver but not nearly enough for the recipe. So in desperation (it was hot, I was lazy, I didn't want to have to go out) I googled and figured that substituting cream cheese might work. And fortunately for me, I had a brick of cream cheese so I threw that in figuring at least I would have a good time tasting the recipe until I threw the flour in.

My other change which was not so drastic was to throw in some tart cherries instead of dried sour cherries. And that was because it was early, I wanted to go home because I hadn't had my caffeine yet, and I had to stop by the rental office again to make sure they didn't forget about me. In other words, I didn't want to have to go out of my way to run around the store trying to find them.

And okay, so I skipped rolling the dough into logs partially because the biscotti I've had before has been the more rustic version with slightly jagged edges and long crunchy pieces. Also I was panicking slightly because the dough seem very soft, I was regretting the cream cheese decision and wondering what kind of mutant cookie was going to come out of the oven as a result. I was figuring either some flat misshapen thing or a dough that rose high and looked more like a cake than a cookie. Plus we still have to factor in the laziness factor of not wanting to go through the extra step of rolling and slicing.

But apart from that, I kept to the recipe :)

Honestly. And one of these days I really am going to do Melissa justice by following one of her recipes as she calls for it to be made.

What was great about this is that the recipe actually turned out. And granted I am not a biscotti expert, but this tasted pretty darn good compared to the biscotti I've had before even with the cream cheese substitution. Would definitely make this again. My only hope is that I can stay away from the rest of them long enough to dump on my coworkers Monday instead of eating them myself.

Great pick, Tracey. Thanks!