Chocolate Biscotti

The other day the mood struck to make biscotti. I'm not really sure why, it isn't something that I particularly love and I never buy it. But I wanted to make it. Biscotti often has nuts and/or dried fruit in it, and I had neither, so I needed a recipe that contained items I did have. Namely, chocolate.

I took to the internet to find a recipe. I started with one that had gotten favorable review on recipezaar.com, including one from someone who said they made the biscotti and sold it at a local Italian restaurant. That biscotti was awful. The dough was so sticky I could hardly form it into logs, and when it was baked it was unpleasantly crumbly had had a very eggy flavor and was not terribly chocolatey - and it contained 3/4 cup cocoa powder and 6 oz chopped chocolate. They were inedible. This is not that biscotti.

After my biscotti flop, I turned to Dorie. Why I didn't go to her first, I have no idea. I found exactly what I was looking for in Baking From My Home to Yours.

These are wonderful. They have a deep chocolate flavor which is accentuated by the addition of espresso powder. The coffee flavor is not predominate but it is there, and I loved that. If baked for the amount of time Dorie suggests, they are actually rather chewy on the inside but crunchy on the outside. I ate a few that way, then baked the rest for another 10 minutes so they would be more like a classic biscotti. Though crunchier, I actually think they lost some of their flavor in those extra 10 minutes, so next time I will stick to the instructions as written.

These are biscotti that I would buy, these are biscotti that I would crave, these are biscotti that I will make again.

Chocolate Biscotti

adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Combine flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale - about 2 minutes - the mixture may be crumbly. Scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes. Don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled at this point. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Scrape sides of bowl. Stir in chopped chocolate. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces and form into logs about 12" long. Place logs on baking sheet and flatten logs so that they are about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Bake logs for about 25 minutes, or until they feel slightly firm. The logs will spread and crack. Leaving the oven on, remove baking sheet and put it on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Using a large serrated knife, cut each log diagonally into pieces about 1/2 inch wide. Carefully place these slices back on the baking sheet with a little space between them. If it helps, use a large, thin spatula for the transfer. Bake the cookies for 10* minutes and transfer to a rack to cool.

* If you like your biscotti crunchy, you may need to bake them for 5-10 minutes longer the second time

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Honey Beescotti

Here is my first posting for the baking group Sweet Melissa Sundays! I know, I know - this is the recipe from last week, but better late than never! 

The recipe is called Honey Beescotti, and includes 3 tablespoons of honey in the dough, though I replaced it with molasses. I was raised in a unique community where a large percentage of people followed Ayurveda - the ancient system of health from India. According to Ayurveda, honey should not be heated, and has ill effects on health if consumed after heating. This was my first time making biscotti, and it worked great with the molasses, though made it a little darker than everyone else's. Biscotti is not something that I ever would have made had it not been for this group, so thank you to Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets for starting the group and picking this wonderful recipe! Easy and fun to make and so delicious!

I didn't have any problems with the dough spreading, and my logs came out of the oven a lovely dark golden brown. I put candied orange peel in one of the two logs, though I wish I had put it in both - it really added a lot of personality to the biscotti. The recipe called for caraway seeds, though I left those out entirely - partly because I didn't have any and forgot to buy any, and partially because I had an unfortunate experience with an over seeded Irish soda bread scone...

I've never been much of a biscotti person, but these are really delicious and I am enjoying eating them immensely. You can find the recipe on Lorelei's blog, and check out the other SMS bakers to see their versions of this biscotti.