Years ago when I worked at Starbucks, one of my favourite cookies were the biscotti, sitting in fat glass jars on the counter. Later on I wanted to learn how to make them, and found this great recipe where you could adjust and change things to suit yourself. With some raspberry chocolate in the fridge and pistachios from a trip to Trader Joes ages ago, they seemed like the perfect combination.
Biscotti and really very easy, and the bonus is that if you are allergic or sensitive to dairy, they are also dairy free! Feel free to change up this recipe to suit you-change the nuts to another kind or use a different kind of chocolate. White chocolate and macadamia nuts would be tasty, as would dark chocolate and almonds.
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup pistachios, chopped
1 bar of Camino raspberry dark chocolate, chopped finely
Preheat your oven to 350 and line baking sheets with
parchment paper. In the bowl of a
mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Get the motor going on low and add in the
eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.
At first, this will appear crumbly and dry, but let the mixer keep going
and eventually, a thicker, stickier dough will form. Add the nuts and chocolate, and turn the
mixer on again briefly to get them all incorporated into the dough. Have faith! It will happen!
Turn the dough out onto your counter and divide it into two
equal pieces. It will be pretty sticky
at this point, and to keep it from adhering to your hands, you’ll want to get
them a bit wet. Form each ball of dough
into a 2 ½ inch wide and ¾ inch long log, as pictured. Make sure to do this on the baking sheet-if
you attempt to do it on the counter, like I first did, they will stick to the
counter and be hard to get onto the sheet without ruining.
Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the sheet half way
through, until they are set but you can press the top and it still has some
give. Remove from the oven and let cool
for about 20 minutes.
Slice each log on the diagonal into ¼ - ½ inch slices, depending on how thick you
prefer your biscotti. Place them on the lined baking sheet, cut side down and
put back in the oven for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan and turning over
the cookies half way through. Remove to
a wire rack and let cool completely.
Biscotti will keep in an airtight container for about 2-3
days, or you can freeze them up to 3 months.
Makes about 2-3 dozen, depending on how thick
you slice them.
