Sunday, April 13, 2014

Orange Almond Chocolate Biscotti YOU Can Make!

YOU can make biscotti. It's not difficult at all! Just takes a little time. The dough comes together quickly and easily. It gets shaped into a loaf which is baked. The baked loaf cools a bit and is divided into a dozen half-inch slices which are baked again and you end up with firm, crispy servings just waiting to be dunked into a steaming hot cup of coffee.

This recipe was inspired by one I found in Ellie Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave. Ellie takes our favorite foods and healthies-them-up. I love her and all her recipes. Anyway…this recipe uses whole wheat flour along with all-purpose, uses olive oil, has relatively little sugar, as well as the healthy additions of sliced almonds and fresh orange zest. Dark chocolate rounds out this biscotti, which is a perfect compliment to the orange.

This is my first attempt at biscotti, and it came out great. Try it and let me know what you think! (As always, make it your own with whatever flavors, add-ins appeal to you!)


ORANGE ALMOND CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI
adapted from Ellie Krieger's recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (seriously, if you don't have it, go get it!)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur's Whole White)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup orange juice (fresh or otherwise)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract, if you have it
1 generous tablespoon freshly zested orange rind

2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet morsels and chopped them up a bit)
1/2 cup sliced raw almonds

Directions:
In medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, olive oil, orange juice, vanilla extract, orange extract, and orange zest.

Gradually add dry ingredients, a bit at a time, into wet. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together. (I added orange juice to the recipe for this reason - it didn't come together without the added moisture.)

With your hands, blend in almonds and chocolate.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead a few times. Shape dough into a loaf, 10x3 inches. Place loaf on parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, with sharp, serrated knife, gently but firmly slice loaf on the diagonal in 1/2-inch thick slices, being careful to keep slices intact.

Bake slices for 10 minutes. Turn slices over and bake for another 5-10 minutes (I went for 10).

Remove from oven and allow sliced biscotti to cool on wire rack.

These biscotti keep well for a week in a covered container, if you let them! After just a few minutes out of the oven I brought a few slices downstairs to Katie, Bill, and Meghan, who were enjoying hot cups of coffee from their new fancy-schmancy Breville coffee maker from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (which grinds the beans right in the coffee maker!), and they were very happy to put this biscotti to the test. They loved it!

Here are photos of the biscotti coming together:

Dough with almonds and chopped chocolate


Shaped and ready for the first baking...


Half-baked!


Sliced and ready to go back in the oven!
You can see it's still doughy in the middle, which is fine.


BISCOTTI!

47 comments:

  1. Testing. People have said it is difficult to comment so I'm testing this using (as requested below) "Name/URL" - I simply entered Mrs. Dough as Name (no URL because I'm not linking a web site). I hope it works. I want readers to be able to comment easily. Let's hope it works well! Thanks! - Jeannie, aka your Adirondack Baker

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  2. Commenting works just fine for me. But for some reason the blog isn't auto formatting for me anymore so the layout is really funny on my computer... Don't know whats up with that

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    1. Thanks for letting me know Anna. Curious about the formatting, though. Thanks for the info! Appreciate your feedback!

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  3. The only way I could see the comment field is to click on existing comments.

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    1. Hmmmm. If a post has no comments, I think it says "no comments" which is where you would click to post one. I think... I'll have to test it out with the next post!

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  4. I'd love to hear comments about the biscotti recipe posted above. What do you think of it? Have you made your own biscotti? What flavor combinations would you like to see? Appreciate any and all feedback! :)

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  5. I can also add a comment if I click on the Post's title to go to the post by itself. Looking at the main page blog with all the posts listed it is not evident to where to comment.

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    1. That seems to be the clearest way to do it. Thanks Tom!

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  6. This is a post from my Nook. I got here the sam way as I did from my PC.

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  7. They look wonderful

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  8. Yummy,yummy,yummy...................love biscotti with my coffee. I must of missed this post.....CKJ

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  9. The pictures are making my mouth water!

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    1. You'll get some at Diane's Easter brunch! Thanks for the comment!

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  10. Did it work? Because I really want to win those lemon scones...

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  11. Looking forward to trying these. They look amazing.

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  12. So excited to finally be able to comment on your posts, Jeannie!! The biscotti look delicious!!
    i biscotti sembrano deliziosi

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  13. Hopefully this comment works! All your baking looks and sounds delicious! Karen I.

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  14. It looks like I'm able to comment now also. The biscotti looks wonderful....another recipe to try!

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    1. Yea Lynne! So glad! And, I hope you do try this recipe - let me know if you do. Thank you!

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  15. Finally able to comment! The Biscotti look delicious- orange and almond sounds like a wonderful combination.

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    1. Sue, you did it! Happy you were able to post. Yes, these are really great flavors together! Thanks for your comment!

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  16. Everything looks delicious!

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  17. I'm so excited that all these commenters are now in the monthly drawing! And just think, yesterday I was ready to cancel the contest altogether! Loving the new activity!

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  18. Replies
    1. Looks like auto-correct changed your delish to relish! But I appreciate your comment, just the same! Thanks, Di!

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  19. Hi Jeddy!
    Happy Easter if I don't get around to seeing you before Sunday! xoxoxo

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    1. And Happy Easter to you too, little one! (Lynn DiMenna to the rest of the world!). :)

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  20. It did work !!!!! YAY !!!!! Thank you Jeannie !!!!!!

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  21. pretty nice blog, following :)

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