My cousin Travis, who is an incredibly talented baker, and I were in charge of dessert for our dinner party. Figuring there would be so much food throughout the night, we chose light. I made chocolate chocolate chip biscotti to complement our traditional Spanish coffee, and Travis made yummy brownie cheesecake bites topped with chocolate-covered berries. I guess those don't sound so light, but they were bite-size.
When I brought my cupcakes in to work the other day, one of my co-workers told me about a blog called Smitten Kitchen. She said that every recipe she has ever made from the blog has been fantastic. I figured it would be a great place to get a recipe for biscotti.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Biscotti, modified from Smitten Kitchen
You will need:
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 C flour, plus extra flour for rolling surface
1/2 C cocoa
1 T ground espresso
Pinch of salt
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
4 eggs
1 1/3 C sugar
Combine flour, cocoa, espresso, salt, baking powder and soda in a bowl. Mix well.
Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl until well-mixed, and remove 2 T of egg in to a small bowl for later.
Add sugar to the large bowl of eggs and beat well.
Now add in your flour mixture. Blend well. The mixture will become very dense!
On a VERY WELL-FLOURED surface, with very well-floured hands, form half of the dough in to a square, 8 inches by 8 inches. Spread half of your chocolate chips over the surface of the dough and press them in to the dough.
Roll in to a log as shown below, and place on to a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Coat each log with the remaining egg using a kitchen brush.
Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 until tops are firm. Take out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a cutting board and slice each log diagonally, as shown below.
Transfer slices back to parchment paper, and bake for 15-20 more minutes.
I was not so convinced with the end result; I even considered not serving them! I drizzled them with a bit of white chocolate, but I still wasn't totally convinced.
When the basket of biscotti came around the table, I rolled my eyes, took one, dipped it in my Spanish coffee, and took a bite. What a pleasant surprise! The biscotti was delicious, and so I had another.
The next day my stepdad Mark said, "Katie, I HATE biscotti, and your biscotti was INCREDIBLE."
Take from it what you will.
As for Travis' recipe, he totally improvised, which is far more than I can say.
Some oreo crumbs and butter for the crust, topped with a layer of brownie mix and a cheesecake-like mixture, and voila - bite-sized yumminess.
So there you have it.
Cheers,
K
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