Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
It’s no real secret that I like biscotti. Making it is actually pretty easy. The hardest part is shaping and then baking it to your own desired doneness. Some people like a really crisp biscotti that will hold up in coffee/tea/milk, and others like something that is a bit more soft. I found a bit of a trick to ensure that the center of the biscotti is cooked through. Once you cut the pieces, after the first bake, slide them apart slightly on the baking sheet. From there that should let more of oven heat into the center and help dry out any of the remaining moisture that might be there. If you like a less firm, crunchy, biscotti you can avoid this part. I do recommend separating the pieces on this recipe though. The cocoa powder helps keep in some of the moisture. One of my test victims said that this was a cross between a biscotti and a brownie and then pouted about it. It’s my fault though because I made large pieces and didn’t separate them before the second bake.
As you can see in the picture above there really isn’t much in the way of ingredients. It’s fairly customizable when you want to add your add-ins. Keep them down a bit in terms of amount. They should really just accent the biscotti.
A traditional Italian biscotti contains no butter. This makes them a bit more dense and more crisp. They’ll stand up to a glass of milk, tea, or coffee. I personally prefer the flavor and texture imparted in American biscotti that contains butter. If you bake it and separate the pieces you can get a similar crispiness that will hold up. You also won’t break a tooth.
In this recipe I chose to go with a chocolate biscotti as I’d never made one. I opted for all granulated sugar to reduce any added moisture that brown sugar would have imparted. The cocoa powder brings all the chocolate flavor you’ll ever want. I added Hazelnuts as I feel those two flavors work together very well. For an additional bit of sweetness I added some white chocolate chips. In the end it turned out great, minus the one sour puss who is really an Italian biscotti fan and won’t admit it.
Ingredients
1/2 Cup unsalted butter (1 stick) - softened to room temp
1 Cup granulated Sugar
2 Large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 Cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 Cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
preheat the oven to 350 degrees
cream the butter and sugar together
add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine
mix in the vanilla
in a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder together
slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet in batches. scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl
mix in the hazelnuts and white chocolate chips
move the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
with wet hands shape the dough to roughly 12 inch long, 3 inches wide, and an inch tall
Bake for 30 minutes at 350
Remove and let rest for 5 minutes
Reduce oven temperature to 325
slice into 1 inch wide pieces
return to the oven and bake again for 35 minutes
let cool and reslice
