Biscotti di mandorle e cioccolato (Almond biscotti dipped in chocolate)

On this morning edition I make some chocolate dipped almond biscotti.  I was "pressured" to make these little treats due to the fact that my fellow classmates in my Pathology group have been harassing me for something delicious.  Despite my one friend Karl who wants Cinnamon rolls, this is the best I could do for now.  

Biscotti is the Italian word for biscuit and its a funny thing when I think about the word since it tells a lot about how to actually cook this treat. Biscotti literally means Twice Cooked (Bis- Twice, Cottare- To cook).  And essentially that is all we are doing, along with measuring stirring and dipping along the way. 

The Ingredients are as follows (since unlike my cooking recipes, this needs to be more precise):

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/4 cups sugar, divided

3 eggs

1 teaspoon anise extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Dash salt

1/2 cup chopped almonds

2 teaspoons milk

First you must "cream" the butter, which essentially means you will take the butter (at room temperature aka softened) and add 1 cup of the sugar (I used a blend of white and brown sugar since that was what I had).  Mix them together so they get to look like that image to the right.

Next we add the eggs, one at a time and stir them in. (heres where you can add the pinch of salt as well.

Now to add the dry ingredients, so little by little add in 2 cups of flour (I did a half cup at a time since that was my only measuring device and it worked out nice that way).  You also want to add the almonds at this point as well as the anise (anisette) extract. You want to continue to mix until it gets thicker but it should not appear like a dough.  It should be messy and sticky for a reason.

Next you're going to want to slap it down and shape it into a rectangle.  This has a little skill involved but my advice is if its too big, split it up into two small rectangles unless you want super long biscotti, which you may desire.  N.B. grease the pan with some butter and use a nonstick pan.  Better yet use some aluminum foil if you want less clean up, I felt like getting a shoulder workout apparently.

Next throw it in the oven at 375 F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown like so.  Then you are going to want to transfer it to a rack in order to cool properly.  At this point lower the oven temp to 300 since they are going back in the box!

Now you want to slice them up longitudinally as so and set them back on the tray.  Mine were a little long so I cut them in half in order to maximiza my order.  Then I placed them back on the pan and cooked them on both sides for 10 minutes each or until they were golden all around.  

Now for the fun part, the chocolate dip!  This technique I have to accredit to my Uncle Driss who is a phenomenal baker and taught me everything I know about baking excellently (yes you heard me).  In order to melt and dip you should set up a double boiler.  Now you can go the easy route and just microwave it but you wont feel like a baker now would you?  So once that is set (or if you live in the caribbean they will probably just melt right away) get the water to hot, not boiling.  You dont want it to get that warm, just slowly moderating the temperature.

One at a time I dipped them in, coating about half of the biscotti in chocolate each time.  Then I let them dry on the racks.  If you are saying to yourself, "Sal, I dont have those kind of racks at home," then you might have to guess again.  These racks are right from my toaster oven, so if you have on of those, then you probably have what you need.  

Gotta love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle camera!

And there it is, some almond biscotti dipped in chocolate.  Its nice with some espresso or coffee in the morning (which was my grandma's aka my nanny's-pictured here- favorite).  I hope you all enjoy this little treat, I'm betting my Path group does!