Baking Biscotti

While making peanut butter cheesecake brownies last week I stumbled upon a recipe (on the same blog) for Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscotti. 

I love a good biscotti in the morning with my coffee.  It incorporates easily in to my morning newspaper-reading routine.  What I hate however, is paying through the nose for pre-packaged biscotti that has an 'industrial' flavor.  In the past I have been hesitant to try to make my own biscotti at home because surely, anything that tastes that good with that kind of delicate texture has to be difficult to make.  WRONG.

This recipe could not be more simple (or delicious).  Over the past 4 days I have made it 3 times. 

Yes, THREE. 

The first attempt was at home, by myself and I followed the recipe exactly.  The 'bang for the buck' factor was off the charts!   I took some to my neighbors down the street and another friend as well.  I got good reviews from all of them and from R. 

Well, that's not entirely true.  Initially the review from R was less than stellar.  I think his comments were something along the line of "the flavor is good, but these are really dry".  I kindly informed him that biscotti is meant to be dunked.  So after trying them with a tall glass of cold milk, he was singing a different tune. 

Attempt #2 was at my mom's house yesterday.  I helped her make some granola bars and then we attacked the biscotti.  She likes to try making new things, but I think she can be overwhelmed by them sometimes, so I like to step in and help.  And I just love spending time with my momma!

Here is a quick run-down of the process:

After pre-heating the oven to 350 F and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, cream 6 T of softened butter with 1 cup of sugar for about 2 minutes, then add in 2 eggs.  Combine thoroughly.  It should look something like this:

Next add in 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup cocoa powder, 1 t of salt and 1 t of baking soda.  Mix on low until just combined.  The dough is incredibly thick.  **This is where my mom and I switched things up and added in 2 Starbucks VIA packets to achieve a mocha flavor**

Finally, gently add in 1 cup of peanut butter chips and 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips by pulsing the mixer a couple of times. 

Divide the dough in half and make two 12"x 2" logs on the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar (this is optional) and then bake the logs for 35 minutes.

After 35 minutes, pull the pan out of the oven and let the logs cool 3 minutes.  Transfer them to a cutting board and cut each log in to 1/2 inch slices. 

Places the slices back on the baking sheet, sliced side down.  Bake for another 8 - 10 minutes.  Cool thoroughly on a wire cooling rack. 

We called our version Mocha Peanut Butter Biscotti. 

Attempt 3 was at my house this morning with a sweet friend, Shannon.  I had given her some of the biscotti from attempt #1 and she wanted to learn to make them for herself. We had an absolute blast and even got a little creative.

In addition to making the Mocha Peanut Butter version, we also made a Mocha White Chocolate version by swapping white chocolate chips out for the peanut butter chips.  So good.

Finally, we made our own Homemade Nutella by following this recipe, which we promptly used to make more Nutella Panna Cotta. 

One of our Best. Neighbors. Ever came down to taste test a little later on.  She approved... and took a few more home for later. 

While I have certainly enjoyed eating the biscotti, I think my favorite thing about it is how it has provided me with so many opportunities to spend time with people that are special to me over the last few days.