Biscotti

It's a rainy Sunday today. It is super lush and green in my backyard and there are so many flowers popping up that it looks like a meadow.

 

I was drinking my afternoon coffee and looking out the window and I decided to try out making biscotti. It just seemed to fit the vibe of the day. For the past few weeks I've been making a lot of bread, and I've gotten very used to time and ingredient extensive recipes. But biscotti surprised me! They're so ridiculously fast and easy to make!

I used this recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17241/biscotti/ and adjusted the servings to 14, so I would use exactly one egg. Per the recipe, I started out by just beating together the wet ingredients. The recipe calls for anise extract or oil, but I decided to substitute almond extract in its place!

1 egg

 2 tbsp + 2 tsp oil

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp anise extract

 Next, I mixed the dry ingredients together:

1 cup + 1 tbsp flour

1 tsp baking powder

I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and the dough was done! Super simple. Then, I had to roll the dough out into a cookie log onto a baking sheet with parchment paper, and press it down so it was flat, at about 1/2 inch thickness.

 

I then had to pop that in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. It is crazy to me that this dough turns into biscotti. This is what I've been loving about baking and cooking recipes in quarantine that I wouldn't necessarily have tried previously. It is so interesting to see how different types of things are made--and it typically involves a process or step that you wouldn't expect! 

 

After taking the dough out of the oven, I waited for it to cool. Once it was cool enough to handle, I cut it into slices about 1/2 inch thick, almost like slicing a small baguette.

 

I then placed these slices down on the pan and baked them again for 6-10 minutes on each side. 

 

While I was waiting for the slices to toast, I decided to figure out the ways I would dress up the biscotti. The recipe doesn't call for any add-ins with the dough, or any toppings, but I love chocolate biscotti. I decided to melt some dark chocolate to dip the bottoms in and then drizzle on top! When melting your chocolate, you can do a double boiler, or just melt it in the microwave carefully so it doesn't burn. I actually have fondue pot, so I melted my chocolate in there! I used extra dark chocolate so that the biscotti wouldn't be too sweet. Once out of the oven, I took each biscotti and dipped the bottoms of them in the dark chocolate, then set them aside on their sides to cool, so the chocolate wouldn't be smudged. 

Finally, I drizzled the tops of the biscotti with some of the dark chocolate, and they were ready to eat! 

 

These were super delicious, and not very time, energy or ingredient consuming. If you wanted to have them without the toppings, they take almost no attention except for the toasting of each side--and you could mix chocolate chips or nuts into the batter to make up for the lack of toppings!

Back to drinking my coffee and enjoying the rainy day view!