Biscotti

I needed a snack for my coffee date with Kim and Mary so I decided to try biscotti for the first time. It's actually pretty easy to make after you get the hang of it. I made it tonight in about 15 minutes (minus the cooking time). I've adapted this recipe from the Vanilla Biscotti on the King Aurthur Flour website.

Vanilla-Almond Biscotti

Ingredients:2 large eggs

6 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/2 cup of toasted almonds, chopped (put them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15 min to toast, stirring occasionally)

Chocolate for dipping (optional)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the biscotti pan (I used a regular cookie sheet)

2) In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and baking powder until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs; the batter may look slightly curdled. Add the flour and almonds using the low speed of your mixer, stirring until smooth; the dough will be sticky.

3) Scoop the dough into the prepared pan, shaping it into a rough log ( just scooped it out in a log shape and tapped it with my fingers until it looked like a log, see picture below)



4) Bake the dough for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's golden brown all over. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Remove from the pan. Using a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water, lightly but thoroughly spritz the log, making sure to cover the sides as well as the top. Wait 5 minutes before slicing. Softening the crust just this little bit will make slicing the biscotti much easier. Use a serrated knife to cut diagonal 1/2" to 3/4" slices.



5) Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

6) Set the biscotti on edge on a large baking sheet; there's no need to grease the pan. Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes (I flipped them after 15 min so both sides would get crunchy and brown), till they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden. They'll still feel a tiny bit moist in the center, if you break one in half; but they'll continue to dry out as they cool. Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.



7) I melted 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in microwave (30 sec. intervals, stirring in between) and then rolled the biscotti in the chocolate after they cooled.



Enjoy them with your favorite coffee!