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.
these looks amazing! and i love the snowflake adornment at the end.
Posted by: beth | December 2011 at 09:56 AM
Those biscotti have such a gorgeous dark color! I'm into anything with the words "double-chocolate" in the title.
Posted by: Ladomestique | December 2011 at 11:06 AM
I love your photography. It's very inspiring.
And the biscotti look delicious too. :)
Posted by: Lauren | December 2011 at 11:16 AM
and you like biscotti, too! i knew we were going to be bff's for, like ever!!!
Posted by: ashley english | December 2011 at 08:47 PM
Biscotti & this perfect playlist - thank you :)
Posted by: Irene | December 2011 at 03:14 AM
Jen - this looks delicious! Where did you get your table? Love it!
Posted by: ACJ | December 2011 at 09:33 AM
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?
Posted by: Nisha | December 2011 at 04:15 PM
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!
Posted by: jen a | December 2011 at 08:26 PM
These look absolutely incredible!!
Posted by: Jamie @ Don't Forget the Cinnamon | December 2011 at 08:54 AM
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!
Posted by: Christine Chitnis | December 2011 at 11:10 AM
sorry- left you a bum link:
http://www.christinechitnis.com/2011/12/holiday-baking.html
Posted by: Christine Chitnis | December 2011 at 11:19 AM
I think I might try this one! Love this blog!!!
Have a great weekend!
Miki.
Posted by: Miki | December 2011 at 12:19 PM
they look amazing christine! thank you for sharing!
thanks so much jamie and miki!
Posted by: jen a | December 2011 at 04:44 PM
What is the quantity of chocolate chips? The recipe shows "1. chocolate chips ground" -- does this mean one 12 ounce bag?
Posted by: Alice Straus | December 2011 at 10:27 AM
thank you for pointing that out alice! going to fix now - in the meantime, it's 1 cup!
Posted by: jen a | December 2011 at 10:33 AM
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.
Posted by: blogergal | December 2011 at 03:49 PM
The Scottish look yummy!! Would love to dip them in my coffee :)
But the packaging! WOW, so lovely and wintery!
Posted by: packaging machine | January 2012 at 03:15 AM