Biscotti for all and to all a good night
My husband and I recently purchased our first home. Yay for us! Let's hear it for responsible homeowners! And being poor! Yay! So to save money we're doing a lot of the diy thing this Christmas, making ornaments, stuffed animals for the kids, and food. Lots and lots of food. Which is nice for me because I very much enjoy spending time in my new kitchen, among the black granite counter tops and clean new oven. And now that I've decided that I CAN actually bake, I'm eager to flex my newly found talent and use the untapped reserves of flour and baking powder in my cabinets. Among these food items I am preparing for our friends and family are biscotti. They are so incredibly delicious, so much so that I find myself "accidentally" breaking them so that I will have to eat them (darn!) because who wants to open a pretty gift bag and find broken biscotti? Not my friends and family. They are picky and demanding and I wouldn't want to upset them with broken biscotti. So to save my loved ones from the stresses of damaged cookies, I remove the broken pieces and eat them. And then I make another double batch. Inevitably some get broken from the new batch as well. You know how it is.
Anyway, biscotti is delicious and though time consuming (two rounds in the oven, plus cooling/drying time plus chocolate dipping time plus another drying time) it really is pretty easy. Especially when you have a three page laundry list of things to get done before the holidays that you can occupy yourself with in between pulling biscotti out of the oven and dipping it in chocolate.
Chocolate Almond Biscotti
You will need: (to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F)
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick, unsalted)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (don't be cheap, use the good stuff)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (see note above re: cocoa powder)
another 1 cup good semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sliced almonds
Take your softened butter and put it in a bowl with your granulated sugar. You can use the wax paper that the stick was wrapped in to grease your cookie sheet! (Double duty, way to go wax paper that wraps my butter sticks!) Take your electric mixer and cream the sugarbutter until it is creamed. Add your cocoa powder and your baking powder and mix until combined well. Beat in the eggs and the almond extract and enjoy inhaling the almondy chocolate scent emerging from your dough as you mix. Beat in the flour a little at a time, until your mixer gets pooped and won't mix the thick dough anymore. Fold in the rest of the flour by hand. (I use a rubber spatula, it is flexible and easy to use.) Fold in your 1 cup of good quality semisweet chocolate chips. Dump out your dough onto a lightly floured countertop, rip it in half, and form each lump into about an 8" roll. Put the rolls on your previously butterwaxpaper greased cookie sheet a few inches apart, and flatten them out to about 3/4" thick. Look at the unappetizing brown flattened loaves and think about how delicious they will be when you're finished. Pop them into the oven for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from your oven and let sit for at least 30 minutes to cool, and turn the oven down to about 300 degrees. Carefully remove your loaves to a cooling rack if you so desire, but be careful! Once you bend the loaf you create a weak spot that will crack your biscotti later on. And then you will have to eat it all and make another batch for your loved ones.
In the meantime, take your almonds and put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven until lightly toasted. I never time this, but I estimate less than 10 minutes. DON'T LET THEM BURN or your friends and family will never speak to you again. Crush the delicious toasted almonds up slightly.
After your loaves are thoroughly cooled, take them to a cutting board and cut them diagonally with a serrated knife (to prevent breakage.) Place your biscotti back on the baking sheet and bake for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side, until dry and biscotti-crispy-like. Remove from the oven and let cool. Again.
In the meantime take your other cup of expensive chocolate chips and put them in a metal bowl atop a pot with lightly simmering water. Stir them until melted and then remove from the pot and let the chocolate sit for a few minutes.
Take your cooled biscotti, dip them in the chocolate and then press them into the almonds. Let cool....again. I like to put them back on the baking sheet and into the fridge for 5 minutes or so. Works like a charm.
Throw all of your bowls and cookie sheets and plastic spatulas into the sink for your husband (or wife, roommate, cat, etc.) to clean up, wipe the flour off your brow, eat all of the broken biscotti pieces, wrap up the whole biscottis in cute little bags with bows (I like to put 6-8 in a bag) for your friends and family, and marvel at all of the money you saved making delicious meaningful homemade gifts instead of fighting the throngs of crazy shoppers on Michigan Avenue.
Anyway, biscotti is delicious and though time consuming (two rounds in the oven, plus cooling/drying time plus chocolate dipping time plus another drying time) it really is pretty easy. Especially when you have a three page laundry list of things to get done before the holidays that you can occupy yourself with in between pulling biscotti out of the oven and dipping it in chocolate.
Chocolate Almond Biscotti
You will need: (to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F)
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick, unsalted)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (don't be cheap, use the good stuff)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (see note above re: cocoa powder)
another 1 cup good semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sliced almonds
Take your softened butter and put it in a bowl with your granulated sugar. You can use the wax paper that the stick was wrapped in to grease your cookie sheet! (Double duty, way to go wax paper that wraps my butter sticks!) Take your electric mixer and cream the sugarbutter until it is creamed. Add your cocoa powder and your baking powder and mix until combined well. Beat in the eggs and the almond extract and enjoy inhaling the almondy chocolate scent emerging from your dough as you mix. Beat in the flour a little at a time, until your mixer gets pooped and won't mix the thick dough anymore. Fold in the rest of the flour by hand. (I use a rubber spatula, it is flexible and easy to use.) Fold in your 1 cup of good quality semisweet chocolate chips. Dump out your dough onto a lightly floured countertop, rip it in half, and form each lump into about an 8" roll. Put the rolls on your previously butterwaxpaper greased cookie sheet a few inches apart, and flatten them out to about 3/4" thick. Look at the unappetizing brown flattened loaves and think about how delicious they will be when you're finished. Pop them into the oven for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from your oven and let sit for at least 30 minutes to cool, and turn the oven down to about 300 degrees. Carefully remove your loaves to a cooling rack if you so desire, but be careful! Once you bend the loaf you create a weak spot that will crack your biscotti later on. And then you will have to eat it all and make another batch for your loved ones.
In the meantime, take your almonds and put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven until lightly toasted. I never time this, but I estimate less than 10 minutes. DON'T LET THEM BURN or your friends and family will never speak to you again. Crush the delicious toasted almonds up slightly.
After your loaves are thoroughly cooled, take them to a cutting board and cut them diagonally with a serrated knife (to prevent breakage.) Place your biscotti back on the baking sheet and bake for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side, until dry and biscotti-crispy-like. Remove from the oven and let cool. Again.
In the meantime take your other cup of expensive chocolate chips and put them in a metal bowl atop a pot with lightly simmering water. Stir them until melted and then remove from the pot and let the chocolate sit for a few minutes.
Take your cooled biscotti, dip them in the chocolate and then press them into the almonds. Let cool....again. I like to put them back on the baking sheet and into the fridge for 5 minutes or so. Works like a charm.
Throw all of your bowls and cookie sheets and plastic spatulas into the sink for your husband (or wife, roommate, cat, etc.) to clean up, wipe the flour off your brow, eat all of the broken biscotti pieces, wrap up the whole biscottis in cute little bags with bows (I like to put 6-8 in a bag) for your friends and family, and marvel at all of the money you saved making delicious meaningful homemade gifts instead of fighting the throngs of crazy shoppers on Michigan Avenue.
posted by emily at 7:23 AM
2 Comments:
congratulations on buying your first home!! I hope we will be doing that in the next 5 years or so. :)
Gorgeous picture -- what kind of camera do you use?
thanks, and thanks! these were taken with my husband's nikon d-50. normally i have him take the photos, but these were actually mine!
Post a Comment
<< Home