Bittersweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti
My old garage freezer finally gave up the ghost. Its demise was expected, as the refrigerator to which it was attached stopped working at least a year ago. But for a long time, the freezer drawer kept churning, so I kept using it to store cuts of meat, bottles of homemade limoncello and other liqueurs, bags of pitted cherries, and so on. Finally, it, too started trudging towards its end, with a loud, grinding whine that never stopped. I used up what I could and moved the rest to the main freezer. Then I unplugged it to put it out of its (and my) misery.
During the final transfer I found a bag of hazelnuts, which I had bought back in winter, or maybe it was fall, at my favorite, dearly departed kitchenware store, La Cuisine. (Nancy Pollard, La Cuisine's retired owner, now shares her culinary wisdom at Kitchen Detail Blog.) The nuts, already shelled and peeled, were top-notch quality from Piemonte. I kicked myself for forgetting about them, and nearly threw them away, assuming they had lost their taste and crunch. Just to be sure, I tasted one, and instead found it was still good, really good ~ crispy and buttery.
These biscotti came immediately to mind. They are a slight variation of the Chocolate-Studded Biscotti on page 58 of Ciao Biscotti. The original recipe has no nuts, as I developed it for my kids when they were little and did not care for nuts in baked goods, even biscotti. Now, of course, even they get that chocolate and hazelnuts are better together.
I use Trader Joe's 72 percent bittersweet Belgian chocolate, which comes in big one-pound blocks. What's nice about chopping the chocolate yourself is that you get a mix of chunks, small bits, and shards, which make the biscotti look pretty. And there's chocolate in every bite. Trader Joe's carries hazelnuts from Oregon, which are fine. If you want hazelnuts from Piemonte (considered to be the best in the world), you can find them on Gustiamo's website. They are expensive but worth it.
BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT BISCOTTI
Makes about 3 dozen
Ingredients
2 cups (255 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup (105 g) hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see NOTE)
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at cool room temperature
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces (115 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into small chunks
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350° F (180° C). Line an 11- by 17-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly on low speed. Pour in the nuts and mix briefly to combine. Add the butter in pieces and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture looks like damp sand. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the beaten eggs. Pour the remaining eggs, and the extracts, into the mixing bowl and mix on medium-low speed until a soft, sticky dough has formed. Add the chocolate chunks and mix until incorporated.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a disk. Divide the disk in half.
4. Lightly moisten your hands with cold water and gently roll one half of the dough into a rough oval. Place it lengthwise on one side of the baking sheet and use your hand to stretch and pat the dough into a loaf about 2 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches long. Shape the second piece of dough in the same way, lightly moistening your hands as necessary to keep them from sticking to the dough. Press down lightly on the loaves to flatten them a bit and make the tops even. Brush the reserved beaten egg over the tops and sprinkle with the sugar.
5. Bake the loaves for 25 minutes, or until they are lightly browned and just set ~ they should be springy to the touch and there should be cracks on the surface. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack. Gently slide an offset spatula under each loaf to loosen it from the parchment and let cool 5 minutes; then transfer the loaves to the rack to further cool for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300F (150C).
6. Transfer the cooled loaves, one at a time, to a cutting board and use a Santoku or serrated knife to cut them o the bias into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the slices, cut-side-up, on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake for another 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer the slices to the rack to cool completely; they will turn crisp as they cool. The biscotti will keep for up to 2 weeks stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.
NOTE: To toast and skin hazelnuts, heat the oven to 350F (180C). Spread the shelled nuts on a rimmed baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes, or until the skins have begun to crack. Wrap the hot hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel and let stand about 1 minute. Roll the nuts back and forth in the towel to loosen and rub off the skins. Not all the skins will come off. This is fine. Alternatively, you can find skinned toasted hazelnuts from Piemonte at Gustiamo.com.