Since so many of you asked, here's the recipe for my holiday biscotti. This was created from several other recipes and I still make little adjustments along the way.
Before you set off on your biscotti baking journey - be warned - you will need a good portion of the day set aside, and another night if you plan to drizzle them with chocolate...which is totally worth it. But seriously, this is a commitment.... and don't try to rush anything.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups of blanched whole almonds
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
7/8 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips for biscotti
2 cups of semisweet or dark chocolate for drizzle (optional)
1/4 cup unsalted butter - softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of whiskey... or more
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast the almonds in a shallow pan for 12-15 minutes, shaking the pan a few times until the almonds are lightly colored. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side up.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Place 1/2 cup of these dry ingredients into a food processor. Add about half a cup of the toasted almonds and process for 30 seconds.
4. Return the mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir in the remaining almonds and chocolate chips. In a large measuring cup, beat the eggs, vanilla and whiskey with a fork to blend. Stir into the dry ingredients until moistened. Add the butter in slices. (You can also use a heavy duty mixer for this). With your hands wet, divide the dough into 4 batches. Form each quarter into strips about 9 inches long, 2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch high. Round the ends of the dough and place two strips crosswise on each cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven. If you're baking more than one at a time you need to rotate the sheets mid way through to ensure it cooks evenly.
6. Using a metal spatula, remove the slabs from the cookie sheets and let them cool (warm to the touch) for about 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees.
7. With a serrated knife, slide the slabs at an angle about 1/2 inch wide. Place the slices cut side down onto the cookie sheets.
8. Bake 25 - 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the biscotti is lightly toasted.
9. Turn off the oven and leave the door open until the biscotti has cooled, about 30 minutes.
10. Store in an air tight container.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE:
There are many ways to melt chocolate. The best way is using a double boiler. If you don't have one you can just use a small saucepan and a metal bowl that fits snug on top of the saucepan.
Fill the sauce pan with hot water from the tap. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl you place on top of the sauce pan. Heat the sauce pan over LOW heat until it begins to simmer. Then put the metal bowl on top. Make sure the chocolate is chopped up into little pieces so it melts evenly. Stir gently until the chocolate is consistently smooth and shiny. If you need to thin the chocolate out, I've had success with Crisco Shortening. This helps a lot with thinning it out, depending on the type of chocolate you're using.
Lay the biscotti out on wax paper and make sure they're evenly spaced out. If the biscotti's touching ends the chocolate won't drip down on the sides.
Using a spoon, drizzle the warmed chocolate over the biscotti in a consistent pattern. Let the chocolate cool and dry before packaging the biscotti in an air tight container.
