Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti

The real breakfast of champions: biscotti and chai

My husband and I have been on a biscotti-phase lately. It has been my husband’s breakfast of choice, and I don’t mind its crunchy goodness either.

My mom used to make biscotti. It seemed like there was a new batch of biscotti every month (I think its her favorite to bring to a potluck). So I thought, how hard could it be? Of course, she also made sushi and I know those are difficult. In fact, when I took a sushi making class, my one takeaway was to tip my sushi chef more, but I digress…

Back to biscotti…

I googled possible recipes, but there were a lot of biscotti recipes out there. I really needed to narrow it down. Chocolate – can’t go wrong with chocolate.

Have Biscotti Will Travel.

For some reason, I was drawn to the Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti recipe by Martha Stewart. Perhaps it is because I had luck with her quinoa pancakes before. Most likely its because I have most of the ingredients for this.

One problem though, this required creaming the butter and sugar. It’s not exactly my favorite thing to do, but maybe its one way of overcoming my creaming-phobia.

I followed this recipe almost exactly to what Martha did. However, I had to substitute walnuts for pistachios. I heard that pistachios are very high in potassium, and I am still trying to cut down. I also used brown sugar instead of white (because I love the flavor with chocolate) and cut it to 3/4 of a cup.

Here’s the recipe. Hope you enjoy.
 

Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti

Based on Martha Stewart’s Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti

 

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet; set aside.*
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl if necessary. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.
3. Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, about 12 by 4 inches. Bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees.
4. On a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut biscotti diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange biscotti, cut sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes.

Biscotti Batter: Drier than what I am used to

Cutting the biscotti log was not as bad as I thought

Rebaking Biscotti... Yum

*Note: to conserve in energy and since it takes me a while to transfer the dough, I actually heat the oven as I stir the walnuts and chocolate - around the last part of Step 2).

Verdict

This was a good starter biscotti. It’s relatively easy and delicious.

That said, this recipe was way too much for two people, even if we’re in a biscotti phase. I had to bring some to my dance class and we enjoyed it as an after workout snack. Besides, who could not resist chocolate?