December 18th, 2010

Biscotti Day! 

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped candied cherries
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a large cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the almond extract. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in candied cherries and mini chocolate chips.
3. With lightly floured hands, shape dough into two 10 inch long loaves. Place rolls 5 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet; flatten each to 3 inch width.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until set and light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut loaves diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange slices cut side down on ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until bottoms begin to brown. Turn, and bake an additional 5 minutes, or until browned and crisp. Cool completely. Melt white chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 20 to 30 seconds until smooth. Drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate. Store in tightly covered container

I got the recipe years ago from allrecipes.com and tend not to alter it too much, but if I have regular chocolate chips, I go ahead and use those instead of the mini’s.  I serve them on Christmas day (but make a double batch because a few tend to fall off the truck…)