Chocolate Almond Biscotti

It is fun to try something new,something you've only heard about before and not tasted.I happened to taste my first ever Cinnamon rolls thanks to her and now it is the turn of Biscotti.I've seen so many recipes for Biscotti but never tried any.Since it is the time for our monthly event Sweet Punch,we decided to do a twist and try this recipe.


Biscotti is a type of Italian Cookie which gets its name from the original biscoctus,which means twice cooked/baked.It defined oven baked goods that were baked twice, so they were very dry and could be stored for long periods of time.[source]

I've heard so many horror stories of this very simple recipe that I pushed baking this to the last minute.Stories of the baked dough crumbling while cutting and not holding shape and not baking through were some of the many.Fortunately,this recipe is quite foolproof and got done smoothly.I felt it tasted very similar to our Indian Rusk,perfect with a mug of coffee/tea or even sweetened milk.


Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Recipe source - Joy of Baking

Ingredients

Granulated white sugar - 2/3 cup 
Eggs - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
All Purpose flour - 1 ¾  cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Chocolate – 110 gms,chopped in ½ ‘ pieces
Almonds – ¾ cup,blanched,toasted and chopped coarsely

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.Line a baking tray with butter paper.

Sift together flour,baking powder and salt,reserve.

In a mixing bowl,beat together sugar,eggs and vanilla using an electric beater till thick pale and fluffy-about 5 minutes.When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.
Mix in the sifted flour mixture and beat until combined.
Fold in the chopped almonds and chocolate.

Transfer the dough to a baking tray lined with butter paper and form into a log.Roughly 12 inches long and 3 inches wide.
(you many have to dampen your hands while doing this as the dough is quite sticky).
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until firm to touch.Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 160C.Transfer the log to a cutting board and cut into 2 cm slices.(diagonally or straight)
Place the biscotti cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Turn slices over and bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool and store in airtight containers.

Notes

• I halved the recipe and got around 10 biscottis.You could slice the log diagonally for better looking biscottis.
• While slicing,follow the trial and error method.Some recipes ask you to cut in a sawing motion and some ask you to cut straight down.Try the method which best works for you.I did the sawing method.
• Shaping the log requires a bit of a patience,the dough is very sticky and forming the log into a neat one seems like a challenge.Try smoothening the top with a wet spatula and it might work.