Christmas Baking 2017: Mocha Biscotti

Crunchy mocha Biscotti speckled with chocolate chips, flavored with a robust kick of coffee and sweetened with brown sugar. Perfect for breakfast, dessert, or a snack on the go. 

Welcome to the first official Recipe of This year’s Christmas Baking! With exactly one month to go, this year’s series will be packed with some traditional favorites and a couple of unexpected gems of recipes. So before you continue reading, play the below song and get yourself in the merry spirit.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how familiar with biscotti are you?? Have you made it before? Bought it before? Eaten it before?

It personally took me the longest time to try a biscotto. Not because I didn’t think that they tasted good or I didn’t like the look of them but because they are always so hard, and given my dental history and recurring nightmares, they just weren’t worth the possible damage. I know you’re supposed to dunk them in coffee or milk to make them softer, but that kind of limits the opportunities to eat them.

Their “twice baked” method  is how they get so uniformly crispy with no chewy center, like regular cookies tend to have.

I made Christmas biscottis last year, and they were so good. Perfectly crunchy on the outside, with a slightly firm interior. Good news is, you don’t have to be a pro to turn out good biscotti.

And today, I’ve give you a fairly fool-proof easy biscotti recipe that has two tips I learned and I have found them to work very well:

1. The addition of a small amount of butter, although not traditional, produces a richer, more cookie-like texture.
2. Refrigerate the biscotti dough for 30 minutes before baking the first time. This helps a lot as the dough can be sticky and hard to form

The biscotti itself has a nice chocolate-y flavor from the cocoa, and a robust coffee flavor. You can also throw in whatever nuts, dried fruit you want in to the mix, that’s how versatile and forgiving the recipe it. You can also dunk or drizzle it in melted chocolate, but these biscottis are so rich, that adding anything would be over kill.

The resulting cookie is buttery, rich, and crunchy without breaking your teeth or tasting like flavorless cardboard. When coffee and chocolate flavors are combined in a recipe, they make each other bolder and richer.

Note about this year’s Christmas Baking Series: I will not be numbering this year’s series by days. As much as I would love to give you 12 recipes as per usual, I’m afraid that being back in a full time job, that will be a bit hard to make. I will attempt to give you all the recipes I’ve planned, but don’t hate me if they don’t add up to 12! 

One Year Ago: Apple Frangipane Tart
Two Years Ago: Madeleine  
Three Years Ago: Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mocha Biscotti

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 300 grams all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
• 200 grams packed light brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 60 grams unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tablespoons warm water
• 1 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 180 grams mini chocolate chips
• egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 175C degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly (feel free to use a food processor if that’s easier). Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, instant coffee mixture, oil, and vanilla together. Pour into the flour/butter mixture and gently mix with a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula until everything is just barely moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and with (liberally) floured hands, knead lightly until the dough is soft and slightly sticky, about 8-10 times. If it’s uncontrollably sticky, knead 1 more Tablespoon of flour into the dough.
5. With floured hands, divide the dough into two and place the halves on a baking sheet. Shape each half into 20 cm long roll, patting down until each is about 1 cm  thick. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top and sides of each biscotti slab with egg wash.
6. Bake for 25-26 minutes, or until the top and sides of the biscotti slabs are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, but do not turn off the heat. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Once the slabs are cool enough to handle, cut each into 1 cm thick slices. Set slices cut sides upright on the baking sheets. Return to the oven to continue baking for 9 minutes. Turn biscotti over and bake other side for 9 minutes. The cookies will be slightly soft in the centers with harder edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. As the biscotti cools, it becomes crunchy.
8. Store leftover biscotti in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Biscotti may be frozen up to 3 months.

Bon Appetit 🙂