Treat day coming back?

I asked Jeff if he thought we should make something to bring for the new co-workers and give them a little preview of what would be coming when we start their Treat Day after the move. He thought it was a good idea so I needed to find something that would survive the plane ride and not go bad.

Biscotti was the first thing that came to mind, so I went through my recipe stacks and picked out Pistachio, Dried Cherry and White Chocolate Biscotti. This recipe is similar to the many others we have made, but with a lot more mix-ins! Green pistachios, chewy tart cherries and chunks of sweet Callebaut white chocolate. The dough was a bit sticky, but if you wet your fingers before shaping, it was much easier to work with. I let these cool for much longer than I normally would in hopes of having them cut without breaking as much as they sometimes can. After about 25 minutes I started slicing with a serrated knife and was very happy with the clean cuts! The biscotti are pretty crisp, but do not require dunking to be enjoyed.

The day before Jeff was going to head into the new office, we went out to explore Frederick a bit and we came across this sign!

Which was, coincidentally, right next to this one... Hmm.. conspiracy to increase the Jam sales maybe?

We had to stop and check out this place - Mayne's Tree Farm. Apparently they also offer a ton of other fresh vegetables and have different events going on throughout the year. We were running late already, but there was no way we were going to pass this up! Here is a shot of one picking field.

Here are some of the sweet and deep red berries we were able to pick.

We picked an overflowing 4 quart box and paid around $6!

As we got back to the hotel, the intoxicating smell of the berries quickly filled the room. Since we had so many, I started to think of what else we could do with the strawberries. We went out later and got some good quality white chocolate and proceeded to put the microwave in the room to good use! I melted a bit too much so we went ahead and dipped the bottoms of the biscotti as well. This added just the right amount of a subtle creamy sweetness to the crunchy slices. Hopefully the new coworkers enjoyed the treats we brought in - not bad coming from a hotel room (well we did bake the biscotti before we left). The fresh strawberries were just too good not to share, even though Jeff tried to keep them all for himself!

Recipes
Pistachio, Dried Cherry and White Chocolate Biscotti