I have been eating WAY too much sugar and carbs, even though since I haven't been running, I should be eating less. There are various reasons/excuses.
"Well, you were outside playing in the snow for an hour and everyone knows that you have to have hot chocolate after you play in the snow."
"Since you are carrying both yourself and the 25 pound little babe on skis (make that 30 pounds with all of her snow clothes on), you deserve another biscotti at naptime."
"It is only January; you have months to burn off extra fat before you have to show any sort of skin."
And so I continue to eat. To make it not so bad, I decided to make biscotti, since they do not have any butter in them - that makes them healthier than other cookies, right?!
I attempted to follow the recipe and it did not work. The original recipe called for only two eggs, but the dough just wasn't coming together. I had a bowl full of crumbs, not dough. So I added one more egg and it worked. That first batch was a dried cranberry, pecan, and white chocolate concoction* - yummy, but pretty sweet.
I thought that chocolate biscotti sounded good, so I tried to follow the recipe again, subbing out 1/4 cup of flour for 1/4 cup of cocoa. Again, the two eggs just didn't cut it, so I used a third egg and two tablespoons of milk and the biscotti were AWESOME. I wanted to try it one more time before I shared the recipe (and because the first two batches were already gone), so I tried the chocolate recipe again but omitted the milk. Those biscotti were a bit harder and not as moist, so I think the small amount of milk should actually be included. So here it goes:
Chocolate Walnut Biscotti
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Chop enough walnuts to make 1 cup.
3. In a large bowl combine: 2 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark), 3/4 cups of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean powder**, and walnuts.
4. In a small bowl, lightly beat three eggs.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and the eggs to the dry mixture.
6. Mix until smooth, but don't overly beat.
7. Divide the dough into three parts. Form each section into a flattened log shape (see photo below). Dust with powdered sugar if the dough is sticking to your hands.
8. Bake for 20 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes, until you can handle the biscotti without burning your fingers.
10. Cut each section into 1" thick slices. Turn each slice on its side, leaving a bit of space between each one.
11. Bake for another 8-10 minutes.
Eat one, put the rest in a pretty glass jar so you can see how nice they look, and enjoy your weekend!
*If you want to make this version, replace the 1/4 cup of cocoa with 1/4 cup of flour. Use pecans instead of walnuts and add about 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips.
** I recently bought an ounce of vanilla bean powder with a bulk herb order I placed, and I am just a bit enamored with it. I have no idea if it makes things taste better, but it seems like something real pastry chefs would use, instead of plain old regular vanilla extract. So I added some to this recipe too. If you don't have it, don't go out and buy it just for this. Just use 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.