I feel like I'm rather unsuccessfully trying to juggle far too many things at the moment. It's not a complaint at all because I couldn't be happier about all of the metaphorical balls but it does mean that certain things like sleeping and eating and blogging are taking a bit of a backseat.
Which is why I don't really have anything much to say today but hopefully the recipe for these chocolate-dipped hazelnut biscotti will make up for that.
In other news, the blog will be down for most of the weekend while it gets a bit of an update from Erin and Melissa at Wooden Spoons Kitchen. Hopefully it will be up and running by Monday and I'll be here with cookies to celebrate!
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Chocolate-dipped hazelnut biscotti
Makes approx. 10 - 12
The combination of ground and chopped nuts makes these super-hazelnutty. I couldn't resist dipping them in chocolate because everyone knows that's a perfect combination but they stand up pretty well without it. Although I used kamut flour in these, you could use any other type of flour. I've made the same base recipe with spelt and plain flour with no ill-effects. I like my biscotti a little underbaked with a slight chew in the centre although I know that this sort of defeats the point of them.
95g (3/4 cup) kamut flour (or use spelt/plain flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g (1/4 cup) ground hazelnuts
80g (1/3 cup + 1 teaspoon) golden caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
50g (2 oz, about 1/4 cup) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
50g (2 oz) dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with non-stick paper or a silicon mat.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground hazelnuts and sugar. Add the beaten egg and bring together the dough with your hands until smooth. Add the chopped hazelnuts and work them into the dough until all the ingredients are incorporated.
Roll the dough into a flattened sausage about 5cm/2 inches wide and place on the baking tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the dough feels firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 140C.
When the log of dough has cooled, slice it on the diagonal using a bread knife – you want your biscotti to be about 1cm thick ideally. Place the biscotti bake on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the biscotti over and bake on the other side for 10 minutes until firm.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. When the biscotti are cool, melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan off simmering water. Dip the biscotti halfway into the melted chocolate and place back on the wire rack until the chocolate is set. Store in an air-tight container.