If you love chocolate and crunchy cookies, this chocolate biscotti recipe will be a real hit.
Biscotti is an Italian cookie that is baked twice. In fact the word “biscotti” actually means twice baked.
Don’t let that keep you from making these cookies. They are easy to make and worth every second of effort.
I love biscotti. They aren’t too sweet, they are nice and crunchy and are the perfect dipping cookie. Most people love to dip their biscotti into their coffee or espresso. I love them with a hot cup of tea. But whether you are a dipper or love to crunch on them, you just can’t beat a chocolate biscotti recipe like this.
One of the reasons I love biscotti recipes is that they almost always call for nuts and I love nuts.
My recipe says to add pistachios, which are really delicious in this recipe. You can switch it up and use whole almonds or hazelnuts too. Any of these nuts work really well with the chocolate (well really, what doesn’t work well with chocolate?).
Walnuts and pecans won’t work as well in this particular recipe. The harder, crunchier texture of the almonds, pistachios or hazelnuts are a perfect addition to any biscotti recipe.
Or – leave them out if the people you will be serving them to have nut allergies or just don’t like nuts.
The ingredients for this wonderful cookie are quite simple and are common ingredients for baking many cookies.
Biscotti Ingredients
Flour, salt, sugar, cocoa and baking soda are familiar baking ingredients that most of us will already have in our pantries. Add some nuts and you pretty much have everything ready to go for this easy cookie recipe.
So how do you make this famous “twice baked” Italian cookie? There are just a few important steps.
Creaming Butter and Sugar for the Chocolate Biscotti
Baking recipes, like this one, often call for butter and sugar to be “creamed”. For a beginner baker that may sound intimidating, but it’s really not.
First of all you need to start off with softened butter. Hard butter will just not mix together well enough with the sugar. You can mix the butter and sugar together by hand, use an electric mixer, a whisk or a stand mixer (like a Kitchenaid. Here’s my review of mine).
Mix together the butter and sugar until they are fully incorporated, which just means mixed together well. You will notice that after a few minutes the butter will become lighter in color. You will also notice that it begins to look a bit lighter in texture as well – fluffier. That what recipes mean when they say to mix it all until it is light and fluffy.
Keep going until both of these things happen: The butter sugar mixture turns lighter in color and seems lighter in texture as well (creamier).
If you take the time to do that your baked goods should turn out light and tender rather than tough. It’s definitely worth the effort. Your end result should look something like this.
The recipe calls for the baking pan to be buttered and floured. Just spread a thin smear of softened butter on the surface of the pan. Usually I would say to butter the sides and into all the corners as well, but in this case we are just making the dough into a log that sits in the center of the pan, so just the bottom of the pan is fine. Put a bit of flour on the pan and keep turning the pan until a bit of flour coats all of the butter.
An alternate way to grease a baking dish is simply to use a non-stick spray like Pam. That’s what I often do.
This chocolate biscotti recipe is softer than traditional biscotti because they are baked for shorter time. If you want them super crispy (which I do), just bake them a couple of minutes longer.
I prefer the super crispy. That’s what I think of when I think of delicious biscotti.
I hope you enjoy this recipe for a favorite Italian sweet treat. It’s definitely worth getting the baking bowls out.
Chocolate Biscotti Recipe with Pistachios
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened, plus more for the baking sheet
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for baking sheet
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup pistachio nuts, shelled (or almonds or hazelnuts)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF.
- Butter and flour a baking sheet and set it aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the flour mixture and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in the pistachios and chocolate chips.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. Form the dough into slightly flattened log, about 12" x 4". Bake until lightly firm, about 25 minutes. Cool for about five minutes.
- Reduce the oven to 300ºF.
- On a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut the biscotti diagonally into 1 inch thick slices. Arrange the biscotti pieces, cut sides down, on a baking sheet and bake until they are crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about eight minutes. (Or bake for about 10 minutes for crispier biscotti.)
- Makes 12 to 14 cookies.
Nutrition
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