Good day friends. Now that my minimal holiday shopping is out of the way, I can focus on the fun part - making & baking. The rest of this week, I will be posting ideas to make & give featuring easy to follow recipes and packaging ideas. Up first... Biscotti.

As a kid, I never really liked Biscotti, I always preferred a softer, chewier cookie. Then I discovered cappuccino in my early twenties while living in Italy. For a number of years I lived on a little island anchored off the coast of Northern Sardinia called La Maddalena. Moving there was my first experience with Italian culture and I fell helplessly in love - with the country, the food and eventually, my husband. And dunking long, crispy cookies into perfect pillows of milk and liquid gold. I spent mornings waiting for the boat that would take me to yet another little island for work, savoring my morning ritual while surrounded by men throwing back countless espressos. This crunchy love has remained one of my go-to recipes and I've been making and giving them for many years now.  I hope you enjoy!

p.s. For a variation, see my recipe back in 2008 on Design*Sponge.

 

DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE & ROASTED-ALMOND BISCOTTI

Makes 2 dozen.

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. olive oil

2 eggs

2 t. almond extract

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 t. baking powder

2 c. flour

1 c. almonds (sliced and roasted)

1 c. chocolate chips (ground)

Preheat over to 350F.

Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together sugar, olive oil, eggs and almond extract. Once everything is thoroughly mixed, whisk in the cocoa. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder and add to the wet ingredients. At this point the batter is fairly stiff and it's best to use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer to beat the final ingredients, the almonds and chocolate chips, so that they are fully incorporated.

 

Scrape the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into a long flat log approximately 15 inches long and 5-6 inches wide. If you have smaller baking sheets, you can divide the dough in half and create two logs. Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Prepare another baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

 

Remove from the oven and let cool a minimum of 20 minutes. Carefully, using a serrated knife, cut the log into slices as illustrated. Place each cookie down on your new baking sheet. Once the entire log has been sliced, bake the cookies for 7 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes then carefully turn each cookie over to it's opposite side and bake additional 7 minutes. Let cool completely before packaging.

 

I tend to make ours really long and they are a perfect fit for the 2-quart mason jars. I finished ours with a glittery snowflake. And below... a playlist. Of course.

 

LA DOLCE LUCE

Ore D'Amore : Mike Patton

Wandering Kind : Laura Veirs

Step Into the Light : The Clientele

Love and Happiness : Al Green

Golden Years : David Bowie

The Ship Was Built To Last: The Duke Spirit

Dive In : The Horrors

No Man Is An Archipelago : British Sea Power

Blue Blue Ocean : Echo and The Bunnymen

Rome : Phoenix

Listen here.

Comments

[beth]

these looks amazing! and i love the snowflake adornment at the end.

[Ladomestique]

Those biscotti have such a gorgeous dark color! I'm into anything with the words "double-chocolate" in the title.

[Lauren]

I love your photography. It's very inspiring.
And the biscotti look delicious too. :)

[ashley english]

and you like biscotti, too! i knew we were going to be bff's for, like ever!!!

[Irene]

Biscotti & this perfect playlist - thank you :)

[ACJ]

Jen - this looks delicious! Where did you get your table? Love it!

[Nisha]

Beautiful! I would love to bake some of these send them with the christmas package I just made to my Italian mother-in-law. Will they keep well over 5 days of air travel in the winter if packed air-tightly?

[jen a]

beth - i'm kinda obsessed with those snowflakes - i buy more every year ;)

ladomestique - right? how can you go wrong with double chocolate!

ashley - like there was any ever doubt love!

irene - you're welcome and thank you!

acj - the table is vintage - we bought it here in asheville at screen door antiques

nisha - oh i think so - i hope she loves them!

[Jamie @ Don't Forget the Cinnamon]

These look absolutely incredible!!

[Christine Chitnis]

I just made these and they turned out so yummy!

(http://www.christinechitnis.com/2011/12/holiday-baking.html)

Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe! Off to dunk one (or two) in my afternoon cup of coffee!

[Christine Chitnis]

sorry- left you a bum link:

http://www.christinechitnis.com/2011/12/holiday-baking.html

[Miki]

I think I might try this one! Love this blog!!!

Have a great weekend!

Miki.

[jen a]

they look amazing christine! thank you for sharing!

thanks so much jamie and miki!

[Alice Straus]

What is the quantity of chocolate chips? The recipe shows "1. chocolate chips ground" -- does this mean one 12 ounce bag?

[jen a]

thank you for pointing that out alice! going to fix now - in the meantime, it's 1 cup!

[blogergal]

I just made these,
I switched 1 cup of flour with whole wheat flour, and I used Lindt Orange-bitter chocolate instead of chocolate chips. It turned out great and now I can't stop eating it.

[packaging machine]

The Scottish look yummy!! Would love to dip them in my coffee :)
But the packaging! WOW, so lovely and wintery!