Biscotti with Almonds and Chocolate

Is there a specific food you enjoy eating but have never actually considered making in your home kitchen? Oh wait, there are probably wayyy too many foods that would fit that list to make this a fair question! For me, the extremely long list of "things I know I can make at home but have never tried" include items like homemade chicken stock, ricotta cheese, and granola bars, among many many other uncountable things.

Happily, this past week I knocked one new item off the list: biscotti. I've always loved biscotti, but somehow never considered making it until I ran across this recipe from a blog I am currently obsessed with called Alexandra's Kitchen. Suddenly, this fancy dessert that I never even truly thought of as a run-of-the-mill cookie seemed much more approachable. In fact, the difficulty level is on par with your basic chocolate chip cookies, except for the fact that you shape the dough into logs, which you then slice into bars halfway through baking. They're also less sweet than your average cookie, which make them perfectly acceptable to dunk into your morning cup of coffee or tea (That's acceptable, right?).

*Note: I customized the original recipe to include chocolate chunks in addition to the sliced almonds. Feel free to customize your own by swapping in pistachios or another item of your choice.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup sliced almonds

½ cup chopped dark chocolate (optional)

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1¼ cups sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract (if you don’t have/want this just use more vanilla extract)

Directions:
1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sliced almonds and chopped chocolate, if using.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugars until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and blend again.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend on low-speed until just combined.
4. Remove the dough from the mixer and divide into two equal portions. Take one portion of dough and place onto the upper half of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form the dough into a long rectangle about an inch high. Repeat with remaining half of dough, using the lower half of the same baking sheet. If you have the time, chill the prepared dough in the fridge for one hour and up to 3 days. 
5. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the logs are evenly golden brown. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Carefully transfer logs to a cutting board. Cut the logs crosswise on a slight bias with a sharp knife. Lay the cut slices on their sides on the baking sheet. Return pan to the oven for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

 Carefully shape the dough into two rough logs. My dough was an odd combination of sticky & dry textures but I shaped it as best I could - no need to look perfect at this stage

 You will end up with what looks like two giant rectangular chocolate chip cookies. Time to slice those babies into bars, as seen below.

 

  Pack the cooled biscotti into a cookie tin for safekeeping. You can even put half the bars in the freezer inside a tightly sealed ziplock bag - this is my go-to method for all cookies in order to control the amount of cookies I eat!