This week I was planning on baking a ‘Hot Chocolate Cheesecake’, because we all love to enjoy a hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night – especially shivering students who find that their houses sometimes feel colder than outside. However, with essay deadlines and dissertation proposals looming I have opted for a slightly simpler recipe – Chocolate Biscotti.
This was the first time that I had made biscotti and I have to be honest – it did not go well! However, I can use my disastrous experience to help you avoid my mistakes and make biscotti that – well – actually looks like biscotti.
Ingredients
1 egg
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g of plain chocolate, roughly chopped
50g flaked almonds
50g walnuts
Method
1) Whisk the egg, sugar and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl until thick and pale.
2) Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a separate bowl, then sift into the egg mixture and fold in gently. Stir in the chopped chocolate, almonds and walnuts.
3) Turn out onto a floured surface and shape into a flat log, 23cm long and 1.5cm wide. Transfer to a large lightly greased baking sheet.
Mistake number 1: I rolled my mixture into a log but I did not press it down so that it was flat on the bottom and could remain upright.
Also, Make sure that you don’t have your chocolate pieces on the outside of the log as you will lose a lot of your chocolate if it melts onto the baking tray in the oven.
4) Bake for around 20-25 minutes or until golden (mine took around 35 minutes – but my oven is extremely temperamental, so keep an eye on your biscotti)
5) Cool for 5 minutes or until firm. Slice the log diagonally into slices about 1cm thick and arrange on a baking sheet. Pop back in the oven and cook for around 5-7 minutes on either side.
Mistake number 2: Make sure to cut the biscotti into slices that are 1cm thick – I sliced mine too thickly, so they did not cook all the way through (I do prefer them slightly under-cooked, but that is just me). Remember – bigger is not always better.
Finally, let your biscotti cool completely before you attempt to slice it – I was over zealous and, as you can see, my creation did not look cute.
I hope that this recipe inspires you to give Biscotti a go, if so – I just hope that you have more luck with it than I did! Practice makes perfect…
Fold in walnuts, almonds and chocolate. My mixture does not contain almonds as Hyde Park Sainsbury’s Local is not the prime place to purchase baking goods.
Your Biscotti Log
When baked this is what your biscotti log should look like – not that appetising but trust me it tastes better than it looks!
Again this does not look incredibly appetising but they did taste great.
Here is what the finished product should look like!
Image Sources:
1-5 my own
6) ‘Chocolate Box’, Paragon Books
Hannah Conway