Recipe By : Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cookies Italian
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
7 oz Blanched almonds -- skinned
7 oz Milk chocolate
1 3/4 c Unbleached flour -- sifted
1 ts Baking soda
1/8 ts Salt
1/3 c Unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c Granulated sugar
4 lg Eggs
1 ts Vanilla extract
Toast the almonds in a shallow pan in a preheated 350°F oven for 12
to 15 minutes, until lightly colored, shaking the pan once or twice.
You can tell when they are done by the strong smell of toasted
almonds when you open the oven door. Set aside to cool.
Cut or break the chocolate into small pieces and place it in the bowl
of a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade. Let stand.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Add
about 1 cup of the flour mixture to the chocolate. Process for about
30 seconds, or until the chocolate is fine and powdery.
In a large bowl, mix together the processed ingredients with the
remaining sifted dry ingredients. Stir in the almonds.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla just to mix. With a
large rubber or wooden spatula stir the egg mixture into the dry
ingredients. You may think there is
Now place two 20" lengths of plastic wrap on the work surface.
To shape two loaves, spoon a strip of the dough down the middle of
each piece of plastic wrap. Each strip should be 13 to 14" long.
Flatten the tops. Lift the two long sides of the plastic wrap. Hold
them together as close as hands, press on the plastic wrap to smooth
the dough and shape it into an even strip 14 to 15" long, 2-1/2 to 3"
wide, and 3/4" thick (no thicker), with squared ends. If the strips
of dough are thicker than they should be, the baked strips will not
slice neatly.
Transfer to a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 2 hours
or as much longer as you wish, until firm enough to retain the log
shape when the plastic wrap is removed.
To bake, adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat
oven to 300°F. Line two large cookie sheets with baking parchment or
aluminum foil, shiny-side up.
To transfer the frozen dough to the sheets (the dough may still be a
bit sticky; if so, it is okay), open the two long sides of plastic
wrap on top of one strip of dough and turn the dough upside down on
the lined sheet, placing it diagonally on the sheet. Slowly peel off
the plastic wrap. Repeat with the second strip and the second sheet.
Bake the strips in the preheated oven for 1 hour, reversing the
sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to ensure
even baking. During baking the strips will spread out (7 to 8" wide).
After 1 hour of baking, reduce the oven temperature to 275°F and
remove the sheets from the oven. Immediately, with a wide metal
spatula, release a strip from the parchment or foil and place it on a
board. Repeat with the second strip.
Use a pot holder or a folded towel to hold one of the hot strips in
place, and use a serrated French bread knife to cut the strip
crosswise into slices 1/2 to 3/4" wide.
Repeat with the second strip. Place the slices, standing upright, on
unlined cookie sheets with a little space between them.
Return to oven to bake at 275°F for 40 minutes, reversing the sheets
top to bottom and front to back once during baking.
Let cool and store in an airtight container.
Per biscotti: 80 cal, 2 g protein, 11 g carbs, 4 g fat,
17 mg cholesterol, 1 g saturated fat, 41 mg sodium
After mixing and being shaped, the dough has to spend about 2 hours
in the freezer before it is baked (it can stay longer). There are two
bakings, which will total about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
