It had to be saffron this time. The one I brought from my recent trip to Kashmir. The delicate aroma of this king of all spices is to be fallen in love with. And I have. This is special because this has got memories from the childhood too. Mother used to add few saffron threads to the quintessential chilled rice pudding in summer or comforting slow boiled milk with dry fruits in winter.

To her, adding saffron to the food ensured good health to her family. All mothers are like that. They would express their love and care through that extra bit of finer and healthier ingredients. Be it a generous dollop of butter or the whole grain food. I know, butter doesn’t sound healthy here, but to moms, it does.

So I thought of baking something with the spice, which could travel with me back home and more importantly, which could at least reciprocate the love and affection through the food. And I came across this wonderful recipe of Saffron and Pistachio biscotti from Jamie Oliver’s magazine, few days back which I had bookmarked before I went for the holiday.

The saffron flavor shone through and did magic to the nuttiness of roasted pistachios. Mother loved it and said she was proud of me and it made my day. Though I knew, it was nowhere close to the food which she’s been cooking for us all these years.

Ingredients

180 gm pistachio
Good pinch of saffron threads
110 gm butter
3 eggs
200 gm caster sugar
630 gm all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt {skip if using salted butter}

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius. In a baking tray, roast the pistachios for 5 minutes. Remove and leave them to cool.
2. Soak the saffron in 2 tbsp boiling water.
3. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg one at a time and whisk to combine.  Add saffron thread and soaking water. Mix until creamed.
5. Add baking powder, flour and salt to the egg and butter mixture and mix well to make a dough.
6. Mix in the roasted pistachios.
7. Line and grease a large baking tray. Roll the biscotti into long logs about 2 cm high.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Let the logs cool for 5 minutes and then place on cutting board.
9. Diagonally slice each log into 2 cm thick pieces. Place on the baking tray with cut sides up and bake for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Turn them over and bake for another 5 minutes.
11. When cooked, allow to cool and store in an air-tight container.