Dark Chocolate and Almond Biscotti

Today I made my first ever Biscotti!!


I've been reading Poires au Chocolat A LOT recently after it was recommended to me by a friend.
Emma who writes the blog is a 21 year old student that loves to bake, and to be quite honest has one of the most inspiring blogs I've read in a long time.


Dark Chocolate and Almond Biscotti
(from Poires au Chocolat and the Leith Baking Bible)

Ingredients

120g butter

280g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

150g caster sugar

50g Light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g whole almonds

100g dark chocolate

makes about 30

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Put the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and melt. Keep heating until the butter foams up and subsides and has gone lightly golden brown (you might get some residue or 'bits' in the butter, don't be scared, its not burnt!). Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.  

2. Put the flour and baking powder into a bowl (I don't tend to sift flour unless I'm making a light sponge, but by all means do if you want). In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs then add the brown butter, sugar and vanilla. Stir this wet mixture into the flour. Roughly chop the chocolate and almonds and then stir them into the mix. The mixture will look wet and doughy like a cake mix, don't worry its supposed to be.

3. Scrape onto a lined baking sheet in two log shapes with plenty of space in between. Put into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown, doubled in size and firm to touch. Remove and leave to cool.

4. Slice the logs into 1cm slices at a 45 degree diagonal using a serrated knife. Place each biscotti onto a baking sheet (cut side up) and put back into the oven for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn over. Resist the temptation to eat now as they will be so much better after the second bake! Bake for another 10 minutes. They should be a deep golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and then store in an airtight container.  

Ps. Please excuse the vintage photos with a new age feel!! My camera was in an unfortunate accident with some water last year and I havent gotten round to buying a new one yet! I know its gimmicky, but I quite like the effect the tints give! They give the pictures a 70's 'rustic cool' kind of look!