I’ve never made Biscotti before. Not only is this Double Chocolate Espresso Biscotti amazing, it was easier than I thought. I don’t know why, I always thought of biscotti as being tremendously difficult to make. I’m so happy I was wrong! It’s a perfect dipping cookie for my morning coffee!
You start with a simple dough and form it into two loaves. The dough itself is fairly basic: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, milk, eggs etc. The star of these biscotti is the full ¼ cup of espresso in the batter! Not espresso powder, actual brewed espresso! It gives the cookies great flavor and isn’t bitter or overpowering. It’s a nice balance. Of course, adding chocolate chips helps too! HA! Bake the loaves at 350 degrees F. for about 30 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack (off the hot cookie sheet!) for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, carefully slice the loaves crosswise into ¾ inch slices. Hey! Now they are starting to look like biscotti! Ignore the fact my cookie slices are not exactly uniform. I guessed at ¾ of an inch. They’re close enough, right? No one here is part of the biscotti police. (And if you are, may I have an application please? It must be difficult to make sure all biscotti are delicious! I’m sure you need extra help!)
Put the newly cut biscotti slices back on the cookie sheet. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. and bake for an additional 5 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown in color. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
You could stop here and just enjoy your biscotti! They are nice and crunchy on the outside, with a hint of moisture inside. Plus the great chocolate and espresso flavor really shines!
I said you could stop and enjoy them plain, but why would you? Why would you do that, when you can dip your biscotti in a chocolate espresso ganache!? Yep, I went there. Double Chocolate Espresso Biscotti, dipped in chocolate espresso ganache! It’s a double whammy of chocolate and coffee. YUM!!
Mmmm… now that’s what I call delicious! I hope you’ll call them delicious too! Thanks to Staples.com for supplying me with the coffee and an espresso machine to make this recipe for you! I am blessed!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup brewed espresso or double strength coffee, cooled
- 2 TBLS milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Chocolate Espresso Ganache
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2 tsp. espresso powder
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, gently combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder.
- In a small bowl whisk together the cooled espresso, milk, egg and vanilla.
- Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat until a dough forms.
- Add ½ cup chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
- Use well floured hands to divide the dough in half.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough half into a loaf shape about 10 inches long by 2 inches wide.
- Carefully transfer both loaves to a parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure your loaves are at least 3 inches apart as your dough will spread as it bakes.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until they logs are firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper (with the loaves on it) to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Do not cool the loaves on the hot cookie sheet.
- Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Take one loaf at a time and cut crosswise on the diagonal into ¾ inch slices. I got about 10 slices per loaf. If you cut them thinner they will be crispier. Slightly thicker and they are a bit softer.
- Return slices to the cookie sheet. Bake for an additional five minutes per side, or until they are a nice color on each side.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Dip in chocolate ganache or store un-dipped in an airtight container for about a week.
- Place 2 cups chocolate chips in a medium-size bowl.
- In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream and espresso powder to a simmer, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
- Pour the espresso cream over chocolate chips and wait for 30 seconds.
- Use a whisk and gently stir the cream until all the chocolate has melted. Chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Remove from the refrigerator and dip the bottom edge of each biscotti in the chocolate ganache. Stand each biscotti upright on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Once all biscotti have been dipped, return the tray to the refrigerator to set the chocolate completely.
- Enjoy!
- You will have plenty of leftover ganache that you can use to frost cupcakes or as topping to coffee ice-cream!
