I have never made biscotti before, but this fantastic recipe from The Monday Box blog for Cinnamon Red Hot Biscotti Cookies peaked my interest to give it a shot. I already had cinnamon imperials in my pantry from some Christmas cookie recipes, so this was perfect.

The dough was quite wet and heavy and tricky to work with on the baking pan, which I’m not sure is usual, but I got it to work. The crushed cinnamon candies gave the dough a lovely pinkish/red hue, which would be perfect for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

They baked very well and were easy to cut and rebake. Once cooled, I melted white chocolate wafers and spread it on the top and sprinkled with some red decorating sugar from Christmas. I love how Wendy uses the sugar hearts sprinkled on top in her blog post.

The flavor is really, really lovely! A nice sweet cinnamon and are perfect for dunking in a hot cup of tea. After all that IS what biscotti is used for — the dunk! I chose my favorite Fortmason tea from Fortnum & Mason. This brew has orange in the blend and complimented the spiciness of the cinnamon perfectly.

The teacup in these photos is one I recently acquired from my late sister-in-law Nancy, who sadly passed away in September. If I had known she had such a wide-ranging style of teacups in her possession, I would have had her go through them with me prior to developing dementia so I could have gotten some background on their acquisition. It was a surprise to discover this beauty tucked way back in a cupboard.

This teacup is probably one of those most unique I’ve seen. Far more ornate than I usually go for, but this one grabbed my attention for the intricate saucer cut-outs, the three legs on the cup, and many triangles that form a partial polyhedron on the cup and the handle. The gold rims are faded down into the cup and saucer with a very pretty filigree-look design on the saucer.

The teacup was made in Japan, again not my forte. The potter’s mark indicates it was hand painted and it appears this would have been made in the 1950-1960’s.

Nancy’s birthday was this past week and I really miss her this time of year. She used to called me before and after the Buffalo Bills games and would watch them on TV. Not because SHE was a fan, but because I was. I will continue to use the teacups and items I gathered from her house and think of her each time I use them.

Cheers!