Spiced Dark Chocolate Biscotti
With a rainy, dreary fall weekend ahead of me – and one spent home alone at that – I'm looking forward to being under a blanket and chain-drinking coffee for a couple days. I'm lucky I don't have to worry about anything more than a little rain and wind. But I knew that I would still need a comfort food to pair with the multitude of mugs of coffee I'll be consuming. With that in mind, I tweaked my great-grandmother's traditional biscotti recipe (forgive me, Emma) into a spiced dark chocolate biscotti!
The flavor of these cookies is similar to that of Mexican hot chocolate, if any of you have ever had the pleasure of trying it. In addition to a healthy dose of cocoa powder, I flavored these with some cinnamon and ancho chile powder, which not only make the flavor more complex but also lend a little bit of heat to the cookies. It's a cozy combination, made for days when you really don't want to go outside. And this weekend, I won't be! I'll be under my favorite blanket, on the couch, reading, drinking coffee, with a plate of these biscotti by my side.
SPICED DARK CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 40 minutes total
Ingredients
1 stick butter, softened
½ c + 2T sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1 c + 6T flour
¾ c dutch-process cocoa powder
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
½ - 1 t ancho chile powder, to taste
Directions
Prepare a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Preheat your oven to 325 F.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, adding in the eggs after your butter looks a little whipped in texture. Mix in your vanilla extract. In a medium bowl, mix your dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.
On the cookie sheet, form the dough into two loaves, about 2 or 3 inches in width. Try to keep them both a uniform size. Bake the loaves for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden around the edges.
Cool completely, then slice each loaf into ½-inch slices. Lie these slices down so they're flat on the cookie sheet, then put them back in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then, flip each biscotti, and put back in the oven for 5 more minutes to make sure both sides are toasted.
Let cool before eating – otherwise it won't be as flavorful – and enjoy with a cup of coffee. Makes about 34 cookies.
Happy Eating,
Natalie