Biscotti are easy to make and delicious with a cup of tea, coffee or milk any time of the day. Our cookie jar in the coffee lounge is always filled with cookies or biscotti and this recipe gets a lot of requests.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup (100 grams) peeled hazelnuts
- 2 cups (260 grams) all-purposeflour
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 cup espresso or strong coffee, cooled
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.
In a small bowl whisk together the espresso or coffee, milk, egg and vanilla extract.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) beat the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices until combined. Gradually add the espresso mixture and beat until a dough forms, adding the chopped nuts and chocolate chips about halfway through. With floured hands divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1.5″ inches wide. Transfer the logs to a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. Bake for about 35 minutes or until firm to the touch (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. On a cutting board cut the logs crosswise on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet, and bake for 5 minutes or until they are pale golden. I personally like my biscotti a little softer than is the tradion. If you like yours real crunchy you can cook the sliced biscotti on each side for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Optional: Die hard chocolate lovers can melt good bitter sweet chocolate over the logs as they are cooling and before slicing.
Makes about 36 biscotti.
….these are a few of my favorite things! Bill and I have been hard at work sampling a lot of the harvest beers and we’ve picked our favorites. The next step was to pair them with some of our all time favorite cheese. Now we can’t wait to share the results of our research with our guests. For the next few weeks during autumn rather than wine and cheese we’ll be featuring a harvest beer and cheese hour. Book your room and join us in the common dining room each night at 5pm and we’ll sample a few of my favorite things….
