I have to confess that with most baked goodies I can maintain a certain amount of restraint. I bake lots of cupcakes and can take them or leave them. This however is not the case with cookies. Fresh homemade cookies are like a siren's call to me, especially during the winter. The cold weather makes me want a piping hot cup of coffee and there's really nothing better with coffee than a cookie. This is really true if you're a dunker, like me. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite coffee dunking cookie. I really have no will power when it come to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I'll polish off three or four with a cup of coffee with no problem.
Anyway this winter has been the coldest one we've had since the ice age or something, and I been drinking potfuls of coffee. All this coffee drinking has had me craving chocolate chip cookies but haven't made any because I know I have zero cookie willpower. So I opted to make biscotti instead. This biscotti is lower in fat and calories than my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Not only does it taste great but the crunchiness biscotti makes it better than cookies for dunking into coffee.
As I was making these I realized that although I've eating lots of biscotti, I'd never actually made biscotti before. Well, I foresee lots of biscotti baking in my future!
Chocolate Chip Biscotti (printable recipe)
Makes about 5 doz biscotti
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Pinch ground cinnamon
4 Tbls. cold butter
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup semisweet-chocolate mini chips, or regular
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. With pastry blender, 2 knives used scissor-fashion, or quickly with your hands, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Spoon 1 tablespoon beaten eggs into cup; reserve. Add chocolate chips, walnuts, vanilla, and remaining beaten eggs to flour mixture; stir until evenly moistened. With hand, knead mixture a few times in bowl until dough forms.
On floured surface, with floured hands, divide dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a 9" by 2" log. Place logs crosswise, 4 inches apart, on 2 large cookie sheets. With pastry brush, brush tops and sides of logs with reserved egg. Bake logs 25 minutes. Cool logs on cookie sheet on wire rack 10 minutes.
Place 1 log on cutting board. With serrated knife, cut warm log crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices.
You will be tempted to just eat it right now as you slice it!
do what I did and eat the little end piece...no one will ever know!
Place slices upright on cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining logs. Bake slices 15 minutes to allow biscotti to dry out. Cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Biscotti will harden as they cool. Store biscotti in tightly covered container.
Now brew a pot of coffee!
