Page loading ... Please wait.
Baking & Dessert Recipes & Pictures

breakfast & brunch bars & squares biscotti recipes shortbread recipes comfort foods healthy baking
about us
substitutions
ingredients
glossary
conversions
easter baking
english tea party
chocolate recipes
pumpkin recipes
apple recipes
cranberry recipes
blueberry recipes
lemon recipes
strawberry recipes
quick breads
trifle recipes
ice cream recipes
pudding recipes
christmas baking
christmas cookies
christmas candy
halloween baking
thanksgiving baking
valentine's baking
baking history
bibliography

Chocolate Almond Biscotti Recipe

Printer Friendly Page

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Chocolate Almond Biscotti have two distinguishing features; its long, thin, curved shape and its crisp and crunchy texture. I don't think there is a better cookie for dipping in your coffee, which is probably why you see canisters of them lining the counters of coffee shops and bakeries. Since most biscotti contain nuts, with almonds being the most popular, these Chocolate Almond Biscotti are just about perfect as they contain both almonds and chunks of chocolate.

 

Sweet almonds are ivory-colored with a pointed, oval shape and smooth texture. They are the nutmeat found inside the pit of the dry fruit on almond trees. Almonds come in sweet and bitter forms. The sweet almonds are what most people are familiar with and used by bakers. The sweet almond, used here, has a mild, delicate flavor. We use blanched almonds which you can buy or if you want to blanch the almonds yourself; place in boiling water for about 1 minute. Drain and place in ice water to stop further cooking of the almonds. Peel the skin off with your fingers. Bake them in a 350 degree F (180 degree C) oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until almonds are dry, but have no color. 

Now, we could pair almonds with anise as this is the more traditional route in biscotti, but we are not going to do that. Instead we are going to pair the almonds with chunks of smooth dark chocolate. Of course, you can use your favorite chocolate chips but I like to cut up my favorite dark chocolate bar instead. The Chocolate Almond Biscotti's crisp and crunchy texture comes from baking the cookie twice, which is different from most North American cookies.  This second baking draws out the biscotti's moisture and how long they are baked determines how crisp and crunchy they will be. Biscotti are made by first forming the dough into a log and baking until firm. The log is cooled slightly and then cut into thin slices. The slices are baked until crisp which has the added bonus of giving them a long shelf life. 

 

Chocolate Almond Biscotti: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).  Toast almonds for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant.  Let cool and then chop coarsely.  Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs on high speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.)  At this point beat in the vanilla extract.   In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the egg mixture and beat until combined.  Fold in the chopped almonds and chocolate.

Transfer the dough to your parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log, about 12 inches (30 cm) long and 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) wide.  You may have to dampen your hands to form the log as the dough is quite sticky.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. 

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).  Transfer the log to a cutting board and cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) slices, on the diagonal.  Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 16 biscotti.

Adapted From:

Lebovitz, David. Room for Dessert. Harper Collins Publishers. New York: 1999.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti Recipe:

3/4 cup (110 grams) blanched whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups (225 grams) all-purpose flour

4 ounces (110 grams) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped in 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) pieces (can use chocolate chips)

 

   
     
 

Bookmark and Share

Join Our New & Featured Recipes Email List

New Recipes

 

     
   

   

Top 40 Recipes of 2009*

*Top 40 Recipes based on actual site traffic from January 1, 2009  to December 30, 2009.

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies

2. Red Velvet Cake

3. Shortbread Cookies

4. Royal Icing

5. New York Cheesecake

6. Carrot Cake

7. Sugar Cookies

8. Vanilla Cupcakes

 9. Banana Bread

10. Chocolate Truffles

11. Pound Cake

12. Ganache

13. Apple Crisp 14. Oatmeal Cookies 15. Pumpkin Pie
16. Apple Pie 17. Gingerbread Men 18. Pavlova 19. Coconut Macaroons 20. Biscuits
21. Cream Scones 22. Lemon Bars 23. Rum Balls 24. Snickerdoodles 25. Whipped Cream Frosting
26. Yellow Butter Cake 27. Pumpkin Cheesecake 28. Fruit Tart 29. Lemon Curd 30. Butter Tarts
31. Chocolate Crinkles 32. Thumbprint Cookies 33. Melting Moments 34. Boston Cream Pie 35. Chocolate Cupcakes
36. Nanaimo Bars 37. Mexican Wedding Cakes 38. Molten Chocolate Cakes 39. Almond Biscotti 40. Peanut Blossom Cookies
Joyofbaking.com on Facebook

   
 
   
 

Contact Us   Privacy Policy Follow Joyofbaking On Twitter

Arabic Mandarin Dutch French German Hindi Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Portuguese Russian Spanish Greek Swedish Finnish

Use of materials on Joyofbaking.com is entirely at the risk of the user and Joyofbaking.com, Stephanie Jaworski or Rick Jaworski will not be responsible for any damages directly or indirectly resulting from the use.

This website and the contents are not endorsed or sponsored by the owner of the "Joy of Cooking" series of books or its publisher Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Content in any form may not be copied or used without written permission of Stephanie Jaworski, Joyofbaking.com.  Students and non profit educators may use content without permission with proper credit. 

A baking resource on the Internet since 1997

Copyright  1997 to 2010 Stephanie & Rick Jaworski