Double Chocolate Almond Biscotti

2 cups flour (or, 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup white whole wheat)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 Tbs (¾ stick) unsalted butter, room temp
(or half butter, half shortening, for an even crispier cookie)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped almonds
¾ semisweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar

Baking on a silicone mat

Heat your oven to 350º. Butter and flour a large baking sheet, or, easier, line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
In a largish bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 3 minutes, starting on low and working your way up to medium-high. Add the eggs and beat again until combined well.
Stir in the flour and mix until combined. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, either by hand or with a mixer on low.
You can do this next part either on a floured work surface or very large cutting board, or on your prepared baking sheet. With generously floured hands, form the dough into two loaves, about a foot long and 3″ wide. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake for about 35 minutes. The cookie loaves will spread out just a little during baking and should be firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.
With a large spatula, transfer gently to a cutting board. (There’s a small chance that the cookie logs will break in half if you’re not careful.)

The dreaded biscotti butt!

Cut the biscotti on the diagonal into ¾” slices. (Why on the diagonal? No real reason, except it’s a slightly nicer look to have little parallelograms instead of bricks, and because careful slicing will maximize the number of biscotties and reduce the number of biscotti butts left over.)
Lay the slices back on the baking sheet, cut side down, and bake until crisp for about another 10 minutes. Serve warm or cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.