Chocolate Hazlenut Biscotti

Some friends of ours are having a coffee-themed party tonight, including (but not limited to) espresso, decaf, cold drip, mixers like Amaretto, Bailey's, cocktails such as white Russians, coffee martinis, chocolate stouts, the list goes on!! There will be coffee encrusted cheese, tiramisu, and of course, biscotti! I decided that I would jump on that bandwagon and attempt to make my own biscotti to bring to the hosts to add to their buffet o' goodies, and I'm happy to say it turned out SUPER YUMMY!!!

I found this wonderful recipe and changed up just a handful of things*.This recipe makes approximately 36 little biscotti "cookies", and will last up to 6 weeks (!) in an airtight container!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder* - for this, I used half unsweetened cocoa power, and half dark chocolate cocoa powder which likely made it a little sweeter than the original recipe, and I love it!
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder* - I did not use this in my recipe and it still turned out wonderful!
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups (227 grams/8 ounces) hazelnuts, whole, toasted
• 3/4 cup (130 grams/4.59 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg for egg wash

 How To

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
   
2. Use your electric mixer to cream the butter with the sugar for 1 minute or until a sandy mixture forms. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy and lighter in color, about 1 minute more.
   
3. In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder*, baking soda, and cinnamon and whisk together. Add to the butter-and-egg mixture in 2 additions, and mix only until combined. At this step, you'll notice the dough is quite thick and may not look like any type of dough you've ever worked with - that's ok! It's biscotti, it should be dense!!
   
4. Fold the hazelnuts and chocolate chips into the dough, and mix until evenly distributed. The dough will be thick and hard to stir. If it is too sticky, chill briefly.
   
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a log about 2 inches wide by 14 inches long by 1 1/2 inches high. Place the logs on the prepared sheet pan with several inches between them.
   
6. In a small bowl, mix 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water to make an egg wash. Brush each log with egg wash, coating them evenly on the top and sides.
   
7. Bake for 27 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet from front to back halfway through baking, until very lightly browned and somewhat firm. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 300ºF.
   
8. Cool the logs for 20 minutes, then place them on a cutting board. With a serrated knife, slice each log on a slight angle into 3/4-inch-thick pieces, keeping them in a row. Slide the row of biscotti together, lift and place back on the cookie sheet, then separate the slices, leave 1/2 inch of space between each one.
   
9. Bake again for 9 to 12 minutes, rotating once during baking, until the biscotti feel slightly firm.

Once complete, let the biscotti cool on a rack and they'll be nice and crunchy! There will be some broken pieces - those I've decided to keep at home, for quality control purposes of course (and weekday snacking), but I put the rest of them in a cute little tin to take over to the party tonight! So excited to try them with coffee!!