After making the vanilla biscotti recipe by BunnyBaubles, I began to search for a chocolate version. I do not love chocolate desserts because they are either too sweet or not chocolatey enough. The idea of a chocolate biscotti appealed to me though because of my obsession with coffee.
I drink a ton of coffee and what better to pair it with than a chocolate cookie. I did not want a biscotti cookie with chocolate chips in it but wanted a depth of chocolate flavor. The recipe I chose to try is the Chocolate Biscotti recipe by Happy and Harried.
This recipe stuck out because it is very similar to the vanilla biscotti I reviewed earlier. The difference between the two recipes is ½ a cup of cocoa powder. Before baking this recipe, I felt that the addition of cocoa powder without reducing the amount of flour would create a dense cookie.
Just like the plain biscotti recipe, mixing this recipe is simple. To make this recipe, you:
Cream the butter and sugar, mix in your eggs, vanilla extract and coffee/ espresso extract. After you mix in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. The dough of this cookie is not sticky, just a little tacky. Shape this dough into a log or two on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
After baking, bring the cookie sheet out and cut logs into diagonal strips using a serrated knife. Arrange the cookies cut side down on the cookie sheets and bake at a lower temperature for a few minutes. I like to flip the cookies upside-down halfway through the second baking period.
I made this recipe 2 different ways:
- As the recipe was written
- With a reduced amount of flour
- Making this recipe as written
The first time I made this chocolate biscotti recipe, I followed the recipe and instructions without changing a thing. The dough was tacky but not at all sticky. Shaping this dough into a log was very easy as well. I cut my chocolate biscotti logs into ½ inch wide stripes and baked them for the second time.
After they were cool, they were hard. These cookies were noticeably denser than the vanilla version I previously tried. They were crisp and had a nice snap when broken. The flavor of these was delicious. The chocolate flavor was very prominent and the addition of the coffee made it even more delicious.
I did not love this recipe the day I made it but on the 2nd day, they were more enjoyable. I believe that the flavor profile was a bit more developed.
The best way I can describe these is to say that they tasted like speedy biscuits I ate while growing up (Nigerian folks should know speedy biscuits).
- Using a smaller amount of flour
I found the original recipe a little dense because I prefer a lighter biscotti. I chose to reduce the flour in the recipe by the amount of cocoa powder added. The dough was sticky and I placed it on a cocoa dusted parchment sheet and toed it with a dusting of cocoa powder as well.
The outcome was a light, crunchy very intensely flavored biscotti cookie. This variation held up well when dunked in red wine. Even after dunking, it did not get soggy.
The reduced amount of flour did wonders for the taste of this cookie. The best description of this would be a brownie biscotti. I feel like adding chocolate chips to this would be an overkill. I prefer the reduced amount of flour and will recommend that you follow this variation.
Do I recommend this recipe?
Yeas I do. This chocolate biscotti recipe is simple to make and store. It is practically foolproof. Once ,I threw the butter, sugar, and eggs into a bowl and mixed it. I made the rest of the recipe as was written and it still worked out. I also made this with cold butter once because I did not want to wait, there was no difference. Whether you like a dense or airy cookie, this recipe will work for you.
Tips for working with this recipe
-To enhance the chocolate flavor, use coffee extract or espresso powder
-Dust the top of your biscotti logs with cocoa powder for an even more intense chocolate flavor.
-If you reduce the amount of flour in this recipe, the biscotti logs will be delicate.
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