One for the Road...

I lost my job a few weeks ago. (This is recipe relevant, I swear.)  Every week for the last 6 months or so I brought treats and put them on the end of a table in my cube for people to eat. I brought all sorts of treats: Rice Krispie Treats, Caramel covered shortbread,  cream puffs, molasses cookies, and so many more. And I would always have a funny saying with them on a white board. This last one, the Cherry Almond Biscotti, simply said "One For the Road"

My biscotti is a variation of Anne Burrell's which you can find HERE. On a side note, have you seen her cookbook  Cook Like a Rockstar? If you haven't, it is the greatest. Not a bad recipe in the bunch. If you need a gift for a foodie in your life, buy it. 


Anywho- on with my version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 stick room temperature butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup whole toasted sliced almonds
• 3/4 cup dried cherries chopped
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 2 tsp coconut oil

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs 1 at a time mixing thoroughly between additions. Add the vanilla.

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in a separate bowl. Add to the butter mixture and mix just until it is combined. Fold in the almonds and cherries.

Divide the dough in half and roll into 2 logs. Roll the logs to the length of a half sheet pan. You either need to place them at least 3 inches apart (it spreads) or bake on 2 different sheet pans. 

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven let cool for 10 minutes. Move logs to a cutting board and slice with a serrated knife on the bias while warm. If you wait until they cool they will be too crumbly. 

Put the biscotti back on the sheet pan cut side up and return to the oven for another 10 minutes to harden. Cool completely on a rack.

While the biscotti is cooling, melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in coconut oil. Now you have 2 choices in your chocolate approach. You can dunk it in the chocolate if you want a heavy chocolate side. You can smear it with the back of a spoon (time consuming). Or you can drizzle. 

I drizzle. Scoop some in a spoon and go back and forth over the tray of biscotti. This gives you a variety of chocolate covering. Some have a little, some have a lot. If you want to get really fancy, you can  do half white chocolate and half dark. It looks smashing. 

I also have done a blueberry version of these. They are sooooo good. I don't do chocolate on those, though. I brush the logs with egg white and sprinkle with turbinado sugar before baking. Really the possibilities are endless with these puppies. 

I hope you enjoy them.