triple chocolate biscotti with hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large room temperature eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 3/4 to 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 1/2 teaspoons shortening
Preheat oven to 350°.
Roughly chopped nuts and set aside.
In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time and vanilla, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Add flour, one cup at a time. In a small bowl, mix cocoa, baking powder, salt (and optional cinnamon). Add to the other ingredients and mix until well blended. Add nuts and chocolate chips and mix well.
On a parchment covered cookie sheet, form the dough into two "logs", about 11" long by 4" wide. Be sure to keep about 3" between them.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Using a serrated knife, slice each of the logs into 3/4" slices. Place each slice on its side on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully turn slices over. Bake again for another 9 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven to cool completely.
In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and shortening uncovered on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir until smooth. Lay each biscotti, bottom down in the chocolate to coat. Then place on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Reheat the chocolate if necessary. Scrape the chocolate into a sandwich bag. Snip a tiny corner and drizzle the rest of the chocolate over the tops of the biscotti. Leave the chocolate to cool and set.
Recipe Hints
- you can use salted or unsalted butter, I prefer salted
- the biscotti themselves aren't very sweet, so you may prefer to add up to an additional 1/4 cup of sugar
- you can use regular cocoa
- other nut options might be almonds or macadamia nuts