Double Chocolate Biscotti with Ginger and Hazelnuts
Most commercial biscotti are tasteless little bricks with a little chocolate or nuts thrown in. Biscotti from your own kitchen are tender and full of flavor. Once you have a base recipe it is easy to substitute different varieties of nuts or other ingredients. I have my friend Kon to thank for turning me onto hand made biscotti. Many years ago he was visiting from the west coast and found a bag of orange-almond biscotti I had made. I hadn't thought much of them - they were my first attempt at what seemed to be a complicated cookie. He found them when hunting for late night snacks and thought they were great. I now have four biscotti recipes that I make regularly, two of them courtesy of Kon.
The original recipe for these cookies is from Bon Appetit (December, 1999). That recipe calls for a white chocolate drizzle which I have omitted. I have also adjusted a few of the ingredients. The layers of flavor and texture make this one of the best biscotti I've ever had. For best results use King Arthur flour and Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa. Be very careful not to overwork the dough. Enjoy!
Double Chocolate Biscotti with Ginger and Hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup coarsly chopped hazelnuts
1/3 cup thinnly sliced crystallized ginger (I like to julienne the ginger to get more bursts of flavor in each cookie)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl. Add in beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir until just mixed, then add chocolate chips, nuts and ginger. The dough will be thick but sticky and difficult to work with. I usually put a small amount of oil on my hands before forming the logs. Form the dough into 12" long logs (by approximately 1 - 1.5 inch You are going to make between 3 and 4 logs depending on how thick they are. The logs will spread up to double original width so keep this in mind when planning the size of your final cookie. Bake logs for approximately 20 - 25 minutes. The cookies should be firm to touch. REDUCE oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Next cool for approximately 15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the parchment paper. Cut logs into 1/2 inch biscotti. I usually cut on an angle to make them a little more interesting. Place on clean parchment paper on cookie sheet cut side up. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, remove from oven, flip the cookies over and bake an additional 5 - 8 minutes. Cookies should be firm but not too dry. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack.
These cookies can be stored for several weeks as long as they are kept cool and dry.
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| Double Chocolate Biscotti with Hazelnuts and Ginger |
Double Chocolate Biscotti with Ginger and Hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup coarsly chopped hazelnuts
1/3 cup thinnly sliced crystallized ginger (I like to julienne the ginger to get more bursts of flavor in each cookie)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl. Add in beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir until just mixed, then add chocolate chips, nuts and ginger. The dough will be thick but sticky and difficult to work with. I usually put a small amount of oil on my hands before forming the logs. Form the dough into 12" long logs (by approximately 1 - 1.5 inch You are going to make between 3 and 4 logs depending on how thick they are. The logs will spread up to double original width so keep this in mind when planning the size of your final cookie. Bake logs for approximately 20 - 25 minutes. The cookies should be firm to touch. REDUCE oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Next cool for approximately 15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the parchment paper. Cut logs into 1/2 inch biscotti. I usually cut on an angle to make them a little more interesting. Place on clean parchment paper on cookie sheet cut side up. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, remove from oven, flip the cookies over and bake an additional 5 - 8 minutes. Cookies should be firm but not too dry. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack.
These cookies can be stored for several weeks as long as they are kept cool and dry.
Seriously, your biscotti are the best. I made them. They were good. Actually they were very good. But yours are better!
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