Grandpa’s Christmas Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 tsps baking powder
3½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsps vanilla
½ cup butter
2 cups icing sugar
6 tbsps water
What to do:
Sift together flour and baking powder, then set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar. (Use machine or hand-held whisks.)
Add eggs, one at a time.
Mix in vanilla and add flour mixture.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll out dough into little balls. (Press middle down with your thumbs, like when you make gnocchi.)
Place in oven at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.
Place on cooling rack to cool completely. (Don’t show Grandpa until cool – he will eat them. They’re not too bad warm but better served crisp. Work on a warm biscotti for Grandpa?)
Once cool, mix your water and icing sugar (add a drop of vanilla to icing too or even sambuca) till you have desired consistency, and drizzle over cookies.
Out of nowhere a car screeched to a halt in front of the girls because of what slowly came into view a few moments later. Sabrina gulped as the bus blared its horn to warn any other cars of its presence as it manoeuvred round the rocky bend.
‘I think this is ours,’ Amanda shouted, her words muffled by the blush pink scarf that was snug over her mouth, trying to thwart the sharp wind.
‘That’s what I was afraid of,’ Sabrina answered, sticking her hand out to signal to the bus that they would be getting on, and quickly pulling it back in and tucking it straight back into her the pocket of her borrowed coat. She hadn’t brought gloves, or a coat, with her and the weather had been growing wildly colder.
The rickety old bus came to a stop and the girls quickly got on. It wasn’t much warmer on board. The windows needed sealing, and many had cracked glass, but the few people inside gave off enough body heat that the girls stopped shivering. They paid the driver and made their way to the back of the bus where three seats together were free.
Sabrina tapped her black pumps on the dusty bus floor as it pulled away from the stop. Driving in Italy made her nervous. She looked out of the murky windows attempting to distract herself with the Christmassy view. The bus ride to Amalfi was going to take thirty minutes. Maybe counting Christmas trees and string lights would keep her anxiety at bay.
Before long, and thirty or so Christmas trees later, the bus came to a road Sabrina recognized. Just opposite the bus stop was a rather prestigious jewellery shop and next to that one of the girls’ favourite places for pizza by the slice: Gennaro’s. Celebrities would frequent this famous jeweller’s whenever they bragged of visiting the ever growing in popularity town of Amalfi. Often, they would then be papped dining at Gennaro’s because of course shopping for expensive diamonds made you hungry.
Sabrina couldn’t complain about the paparazzi ruining their coast, or their home away from home becoming an increasingly hot spot for tourists, because it was good for the families and the small businesses. In addition, the girls enjoyed celeb spotting while tucking into Gennaro’s prosciutto and artichoke pizza. Her stomach rumbled just thinking about a warm slice.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Amanda said, stepping down from the bus behind Sabrina.
‘If you’re thinking salty melt-in-your-mouth prosciutto and the juiciest carciofi, then yes,’ Sabrina replied, shoving her hands into her pockets as the cold froze her fingers instantly.
‘You know it,’ Amanda said cheerfully, wrapping her scarf around her ears and clutching on to Louisa. Sabrina wanted warm food in a hurry, but she also figured this would be the perfect time to get away from her sisters for more than five minutes to get them their Christmas presents.
‘You go ahead and order the biggest pizza and I’ll catch up with you in ten minutes,’ she said, waving her hand in the direction of the restaurant. She watched Amanda and Louisa look at each other before they turned to look back at her.
‘OK.’ Louisa shrugged, turning towards Gennaro’s.
‘Buy me something nice,’ Amanda said to Sabrina before following Louisa’s path. Sabrina watched them go, until they disappeared through the restaurant doors. She didn’t want them spying on which shop she was going into. When she felt the coast was clear, she wandered into Angelina’s Jewellery Shop.
***
If Sabrina hadn’t checked her watch, she would have thought time had sped up while they were inside Gennaro’s. Admittedly they had been completely lost to the world, with only one thing on their mind, pizza, but as much as she loved pizza and savouring every bite, she was pretty sure they had inhaled it in a matter of about twenty minutes, so the darkness that had settled around the square confused her for a minute. Her watch did indeed read three p.m., but the night sky had her feeling like it was bedtime. Snow was definitely on the cards tonight, she thought.
She patted her stomach feeling content and satisfied with their late lunch and linked arms with her sisters. The yellow streetlamps cast a glow over their faces, which Sabrina watched as they each took in the way the square was lit up for the holidays. Amanda’s eyes were wide, but her lips remained closed, pursed together. She did this when she was thinking. Louisa, on the other hand, had her mouth wide open, gazing at the giant Christmas tree with pure excitement and wonder. Sabrina didn’t know what she would ever do without them. Not even the bickering, the teasing or the odd full-blown argument would make her feel otherwise.
They walked arm in arm up the cobbled path. The people had dissipated now, the cold getting too bold for most. But the girls had a special place to visit that even Jack Frost’s worst would not keep them from. Amanda grasped hold of the golden handle and pulled open the wooden door. Thanking her sister and stepping inside, Sabrina’s nostrils were met with all her favourite flavours.
‘Oh my gosh, I think I’m just going to get one of everything,’ Louisa squealed. Sabrina shook her head and laughed at her baby sister.
‘Lou, I would give you a medal if you ate one of everything in this place right now,’ Sabrina teased. Shopping in Amalfi was always fun, but this was the reason Sabrina put herself through the ordeal of the treacherous bus ride; to visit the most magical place on earth, Pasticceria Pansa. You’d have thought this was their first time visiting this award-winning establishment, with the noises escaping from their mouths and the joyful expressions stamped across their faces, but it wasn’t. They had spent countless summers eating cakes in the square outside, while Nanna and Grandpa sipped coffees under the canopy, but each time they visited, it elicited this type of reaction.
‘I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,’ Amanda said, her eyes growing wide as she took in the rows and rows of sfogliatelle, le scorzette, biscotti, and torroncini. ‘Can I just live in here?’
‘I’d happily leave you here if you so desired,’ Sabrina said. She was getting better with the sarcasm, having spent so much time with her big sister these past few weeks. She tried to wiggle her way through the crowd. It seemed there was no one in the square because they were all in the bakery.
‘Very funny,’ Amanda replied, her eyes still bulging at the cakes before her, while trying to stay trained on both Sabrina and Louisa.
‘I learnt from the best. OK, what are we having, girls?’ Sabrina asked, trying to bring her sisters back down to earth while sending a playful look Amanda’s way. She had made it to the counter, only having gotten stepped on once.
‘Eeeek,’ was all Louisa managed back as Sabrina watched her take in the gleaming golden and brown cabinets, the enchanting white marble floor and the mirrors that made it feel like the quaint pasticceria went on forever.
‘I think I’ll have our usual,’ Amanda replied pointing at the swirls of almond cakes dusted in sugar and decorated with coffee beans, chocolate drops and candied peels. These were the cakes that made their hearts sing with jubilation, the cakes that their grandpa would bring home to them after his trips to Italy.
Sabrina smiled at the memories of rushing to the door to greet their grandpa, squeezing him tight and eagerly awaiting him unpacking the delicious treats. The house would fill with the most divine aroma – vanilla, almonds, coffee – some sort of magical scent that would bring your taste buds to life in anticipation. They would each take a cake and sit by the fire with a milky coffee as Grandpa told them how the family were doing and about the fish he had caught.
‘Ciao, bella,’ the cashier said, bringing Sabrina out of her reverie. ‘What can I get for you?’
***
Sabrina wandered through the crowd of people bustling round the little shop with panettones and chocolate Santas in each hand, and made her way outside to find her sisters sitting on the edge of the fountain. She had told them to go ahead of her and find a seat outside as the bakery was heaving. The air was still chilly, the fountain now dusted with snow and iced over, but the excitement of being at one of their favourite places in the world was keeping them warm and toasty.
‘So, how are things with Levi?’ Louisa asked, the moment Sabrina sat down next to her. Sabrina couldn’t help the toothy smile that spread across her face at Levi’s name.
‘Things are pretty great, thank you,’ she replied taking a sip of coffee. The snow was calming down ever so slightly, though the air remained nippy. The hot coffee was a welcome shot of warmth through her veins.
‘All right, don’t overindulge us with too much information,’ Amanda said, sarcastically, shooting her a side smirk.
‘Well, what can I say? I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off my face since he kissed me and when I’m with him, life is just happy. He makes everything fun,’ she replied, thoughtfully, biting into a cartucci she had unwrapped. Her eyes drifted to the fountain as she thought about Levi’s boyish grin and the way he could have her howling with laughter at the silliest of things. She caught her reflection in the ice and brought herself back to reality in time to see Amanda raise her eyebrows playfully.
‘OK, enough about me. How’s everything going with Luca?’ Sabrina asked, turning to face Louisa, and helping herself to another cake.
‘You know the other night he took me down to that little cave on the beach and had a candlelit pizza dinner prepared for me. Pizza under candlelight,’ Louisa responded. ‘Could a girl possibly wish for anything more?’ she added. ‘Mind you, he might do that with all his holiday romances and I would be none the wiser.’
‘Hey, don’t be like that,’ Amanda said, suddenly very serious. ‘Zia Sofia knows his family and thinks extremely highly of them. He’s got a reputation for being quite the gentleman around here and I trust Zia Sofia. I don’t think you have too much to worry about,’ she finished, handing Louisa another cake and then wrapping the tray up. Sabrina knew this took some effort on Amanda’s part; she was clearly doing her best to not devour the whole tray of cakes before they got home.
‘He is rather old-fashioned in how he treats people, always holding open doors, very polite and the effort he puts into dates is pretty cute,’ Louisa said, with much more enthusiasm in her voice. ‘We’ll just see where it goes. It’s not like I was expecting him or waiting for him, so I’m just going to enjoy him while I’m here. Plus, I’m not about running away from love.’
Louisa paused and Sabrina felt a little taken aback by her little sister’s dig. She thought they had patched things up and had come to an understanding, but before she could argue with Louisa’s comment, Louisa continued, ‘I’d be a bit of a hypocrite to do so after all I have said to you two over the years. I must admit when I am wrong – this kind of all-encompassing feeling of love can be a little scary.’ Louisa fluttered her lashes at her big sisters.
Sabrina couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Well, at least you can admit when you are wrong, unlike some,’ she said, nodding in Amanda’s direction, in jest, ‘but, Lou, you were right too. It feels so amazing to have opened up to Levi, so please don’t be scared with Luca and go with your gut,’ Sabrina added.
‘That sounds like a plan. Right, I don’t want to hear any more about your Mr Giulio Berruti lookalike, making pizza more bloody amazing and being the perfect gentleman.’ Amanda laughed. Having ignored Sabrina’s teasing, she shoved Louisa with a loving wink. ‘We best get these pastries home now if anyone else stands a chance at having some,’ Amanda added, standing up and dusting off some pasticceria di mandorle crumbs off her pale pink pea coat.
‘Wait, wait, wait, not so fast, missus – you’re the only one that hasn’t been interrogated. Now it’s our turn to ask you the questions,’ Sabrina said, tugging Amanda’s coat and pulling her back down on the fountain edge.
‘If my brain serves me correctly, you two are the ones with the boyfriends and therefore I get to avoid being interrogated, as the last time I checked, I don’t have one,’ Amanda answered back as casually as can be, before standing up again and reaching for the cakes. Sabrina pulled her down once more.
‘No, no, you’re not getting away that easily. Have you and Dan figured it out yet?’ Sabrina asked, keeping hold of Amanda’s coat sleeve.
‘What do you mean?’ Amanda asked, innocently, though Sabrina was not convinced. She didn’t want to push too hard. Her sister was not one to be pushed if she didn’t want to talk about something. She and Louisa had tried over the years to encourage Amanda to talk to Dan about their relationship, but Amanda had always expressed that she and Dan were friends and that they were more than happy staying that way. On numerous occasions she would tell them that soulmates didn’t have to be lovers and then proceed to cringe at the thought of Dan in that way. However, Sabrina and Louisa weren’t buying it. They figured in time they would both realize that they should be together.
‘You do realize that you and Dan are like every cliché in the book, like every romance story ever written, but it’s real, it’s in front of you, like you can actually reach out and grab it, yet you both choose not to. I just don’t get it,’ Sabrina said, softly. Not to pressure Amanda too much with all eyes on her, she looked away and busied herself with tying the bow on the cakes.
‘Sabrina, love doesn’t always work like that. Dan is awesome but he’s my friend,’ Amanda replied, fiddling with the shiny pink buttons on her coat. Louisa seemed to be on the same wavelength as Sabrina and was focusing on draining the last of her coffee, scared of overdoing the eye contact.
‘Do you not see the way he looks at you, Amanda, and the way he calls you beautiful?’ Sabrina responded, still at work on creating a pretty bow with the ribbon.
‘Brina, he’s called me beautiful since day one. That means nothing. Dan calls everyone beautiful. You know what he’s like with women.’ Amanda would always have an answer for everything, Sabrina thought.
‘It’s different this time – it’s the way he says it. It’s not the same as before. I know you’ve noticed,’ Louisa said. Sabrina could sense her baby sister trying to keep the lightness in her voice too, not wanting to scare their big sister with heavy and deep conversation. Louisa made her eyelashes flutter, knowing full well Amanda would never get mad at her own baby sister. Sabrina tried hard not to laugh.
‘Guys, look, I know you don’t understand it, but I can’t explain it. I’m super happy that you are both loved up and have faced love head on – that’s truly wonderful. I’m not running away, I’m not wrong. Dan and I, we just fit together as friends. And besides the other day I told him I had a boyfriend and he was totally cool with it,’ Amanda said, shrugging her shoulders.
Sabrina looked at her big sister. Amanda’s eyes were darting around the square, avoiding eye contact, telling Sabrina that she was lying and that something had shifted in her thoughts. At the risk of being shoved into the freezing cold fountain, she jumped up.
‘You, my friend, are lying. You love him – I can see it in your eyes. That delightful brain of yours has finally clicked. Ahhh, and that’s why you haven’t been speaking to him. You’re scared. It all makes sense now,’ Sabrina said. She was unable to stop the words coming out of her mouth. Her smile was beaming. Maybe it was the Italian cakes. Maybe it was Levi. Maybe it was Grandpa giving her the go-ahead from above, but love was in the air and there was no time like the present to get her daft big sister to realize it.
‘This is like the best news ever.’ Sabrina paused and threw her coffee cup into the nearby bin, allowing herself a second to think. Turning back to her sisters she continued, ‘You, you are an idiot if you think Dan is fine with the idea of you having a boyfriend. You know Dan: he just wants you to be happy. And, why, might I ask, did you have to go and tell him that? It was all going so well,’ she said, bending over slightly to catch her breath.
‘Excuse me? What was going so well? I do not love him,’ Amanda said, more firmly. Her hands were squeezing the life out of her own now empty coffee cup.
‘You were spending time together, instead of always talking on the phone. These past few days I could see it in his eyes. He knows it too and then, clever clogs, you go and tell him you have a boyfriend. Why on earth did you do that and what exactly did he say to that?’ Sabrina asked, flailing her arms around. She was asking questions for the sake of it, simply to make Amanda realize what she was doing. But Sabrina knew it didn’t matter. Whatever excuse Amanda came up with and whatever Dan had in fact said were proof of nothing. There was no way Dan believed Amanda had a boyfriend and no way Dan would be fine with it.
‘You are completely off your rocker, Bri. Uh …’ Amanda paused. Sabrina was not about to drop the conversation this time. Even though it saddened her to watch her big sister shift uncomfortably in her seat, she couldn’t give in and allow her to keep her heart locked away any more. She kept her eyes locked on Amanda’s. There was an excitement bubbling inside her this time that overshadowed the tiny worry in her mind that her sister might possibly slap her in the face. Instead a few moments passed before Amanda let out a frustrated sigh and stuffed a whole cartucci in her mouth from the parcel that was still unwrapped. Sabrina didn’t break eye contact.
Louisa looked on in amusement from one sister to the other. Then, finally, a few more seconds passed before, with a mouthful of cake, Amanda muffled, ‘I said it because he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t like me in that way. Everything is just normal to him. He doesn’t see me like that and I was in some sort of carb coma. And his stupid response was: “He sounds lovely. If he treats you bad I’ll sort him out and don’t go getting married without telling me” or something to that effect.’ Amanda huffed, spraying cartucci crumbs everywhere.
Louisa and Sabrina remained silent. All of a sudden, a light bulb went off in Sabrina’s head as though it took a second for her brain to realize she wasn’t dreaming and that their big sister had finally admitted to what they knew to be true all along.
‘Eureka!!! See, all is not lost. He wants to marry you. Don’t you get it?’ Sabrina yelled for everyone in Pasticceria Pansa and the square to hear.
‘I feel like we have been waiting for this moment for light years,’ Louisa added, joining Sabrina in standing and flailing her arms in the air.
‘Jeez, stop it. You two are worse than me. Arrrrghhhh, he does not want to marry me,’ Amanda said, kicking her feet in frustration. ‘And fine, so what if I think for a brief, tiny, inkling of a moment I’m actually in love with him, it’s horrible – it will pass. I’m just confused with everything that’s been going on,’ Amanda said, looking every bit a two-year-old who just spat out their dummy.
‘I knew it. You’ve got it bad, dear sweet sister. I wondered why you had been avoiding him these past few months. And then telling him you have a boyfriend – you’re an idiot but a clever idiot. Don’t you see? You’re testing him. You might not have realized it, but your heart spoke for you. It was trying to find a way. By the sounds of it, you have nothing to worry about,’ Sabrina shouted. She was pacing back and forth in front of Amanda, doing her best Sherlock Holmes impression.
‘How can you possibly think I have nothing to worry about given everything I just said?’ Amanda asked, her face bearing a look of bewilderment. ‘I have been best friends with this man for three years, he has been linked with numerous, and bloody gorgeous, might I add, models and celebrities and I’m just a chef from Manchester, not even a celebrity chef at that. He’s always so bloody calm and collected and can always tell what I’m thinking. Yet … yet, this time he doesn’t have a clue, unless he’s trying to ignore me because he so obviously does not feel the same and feels bad for me and hopes it will go away. And, my God, how am I supposed to kiss my best friend? People don’t do that. I don’t want to think about whether or not Dan has a bloody six pack.’ Amanda was standing now. She let out a huge breath. Sabrina had never seen her big sister so conflicted.
‘I have no doubt that beautiful rock god best friend of yours has a six pack,’ Sabrina teased, making Louisa laugh and succeeding in lightening the mood. She noticed Amanda’s eyebrows relax as she tossed back her tousled brown hair. Amanda took a deep breath in. Sabrina watched as she let it out along with a high-pitched laugh. Sabrina imagined Amanda felt like the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders.
‘Bri, please, it would make things so much easier if you could just set me up with Harry Styles and leave this Dan thing alone,’ Amanda said, with a twinkle in her eye. Yes, Sabrina had no doubt her big sister felt like a million dollars getting this off her chest.
Sabrina chuckled. She grabbed Amanda and Louisa’s hands and began twirling and dancing around the fountain, the ice in the air being forgotten as the joy of the conversation warmed them up. ‘I think Dan would fire me if I set you up with Harry Styles. That man adores you and has been going crazy not hearing from you over the past few months and you throw a nice cherry on the top of the cake by telling him you have a boyfriend. Poor Dan, he must be going stir crazy.’
Amanda scrunched her nose up at Sabrina and gave her a look that said ‘don’t be daft’. Then she said, ‘I do not believe for a second Dan has been going crazy. Dan doesn’t do crazy. Dan doesn’t let anyone in.’
Sabrina stopped dancing to catch her breath. ‘Our big sister, so young and naive. Dan may not let just anyone in, but you, it so happens, are not just anyone. And, FYI, I happen to know his best friend rather well,’ Sabrina said, turning the tables on Amanda from their previous conversation on the balcony.
‘Please spare me the imagery of that sentence quick and tell me what that has to do with anything?’ Amanda said, making Louisa chuckle.
‘Just like you drive us mad when you haven’t heard from Dan, Dan drives Levi up the wall when he hasn’t heard from you – that’s what that has to do with anything. I have the inside scoop,’ Sabrina noted, her energy coming back to her as she began twirling once more. Amanda seemed frozen to the spot at this new-found information. Sabrina chuckled and grabbed her sister’s hands. Drops of snowflakes caressed her cheeks as she looked up to the sky.
‘It’s a Christmas miracle, Grandpa,’ she shouted up to the stars. ‘She’s in love with him. And it’s only taken three bloody years for her to realize.’