Mocha-Cinnamon Biscotti
I took a regular old chocolate biscotti recipe and messed with it a little bit. It seems to have turned out fine. I made these biscotti to send to my husband who is overseas. These biscotti are supposed to have a shelf-life of 1 week if kept in an airtight container. I once sent him a batch of Guinness Brownies but they were fuzzy and definitely not edible by the time they arrived. Hopefully, these will not become fuzzy before he gets a chance to eat them. :-)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp espresso powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter (stick)
1 cup sugar
2 lg eggs (beaten)
1 tsp vanilla extract (use the good stuff!)
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate bar (broken into dime to quarter size pieces)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large non-nonstick cookie sheet with parchment paper. Also, go ahead and prepare a work surface using a large piece of parchment paper dusted generously with flour. You will need this for kneading the dough.
Into a large sifter, pour the first seven ingredients. Once all in sifter, use a fork to stir the ingredients around until they're slightly mixed. Sift ingredients into medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Beat the eggs and the vanilla together in a small bowl. Set aside.
For the next steps, you may use a stand mixer (such as KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer) or a handheld mixer. If you use the stand mixer, please attach the paddle attachment.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar until uniform in color and formed into a smooth mixture. Now scrape off the sides of the bowl and scrape any bits of mixture that are stuck on the paddle/beaters. With the mixer stopped, add in the eggs/vanilla mixture. Beat into the sugar/butter mixture for roughly 2 minutes. Again, scrape the mixer/paddle and sides of bowl. Set the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the sifted powder ingredients. I added the sifted mixture in in six small increments. At this point, the batter should be beginning to a achieve a dough-like (though very sticky) consistency. Once the doughy consistency is achieved, turn off the mixer and add all the crumbled chocolate bits.
Remove the dough from the bowl and make sure to scrape off the paddle/beaters so that you aren't short any dough. On your floured parchment paper work surface, roll the dough into a large ball and coat it in flour to cut down on the stickiness. (if the dough becomes too dry and begins to lose cohesion, wet your hands and use them to rework the dough.) Using a dough cutter or cold non-serrated knife, slice the dough in half and set one-half aside. Take the remaining half of dough and roll it back into a ball shape and then roll it out into a 10 inch long log. Flour your palms and use them to flatten down the log until it is about 1 inch high and 1 1/2 to 2 inches across. Make sure that the height of the flattened log is relatively uniform. Place the flattened log onto the parchment-paper-covered cookie sheet and repeat the steps with the other half of the dough. The flattened logs should be 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. If you wish, you can sprinkle the tops of the logs with sanding sugar.
Pop the logs in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven (DO NOT TURN OVEN OFF!), place on cooling rack and let sit for 10 minutes. If you let the logs sit for much longer than 10 minutes, they will become too crumbly for the next step.
While the logs are still on the cookie sheet, take a long knife and cut the logs into slices of about 1/2 inch thickness. They should look reasonably like biscotti at this point. Once each log has been sliced up, push the pieces apart just enough that they aren't touching. Place the sliced logs back into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to cooling rack. You can turn off the oven now! Let the biscotti sit for 20 minutes before attempting to transfer to a container. The biscotti should have a hard and crunchy presentation. However, it is just fine if the chocolate chunks are somewhat gooey and soft. Store in airtight container for up to 7 days.