Two things that go very well together are chocolate and pistachio. Not only does the taste combo work well, the light green nuts pop out from the dark chocolate biscotti to provide a nice looking treat. This recipe will make about 30-36 cookies.
I like to eat biscotti with espresso. If you’re enamored with cool things that harken back to basics, I bought a stainless steel stovetop espresso maker from Ikea for $17 that makes a perfect shot in just a few minutes. For me it’s way cooler than an electric espresso machine. I also use this to make lattes only instead of steaming the milk I warm it on the stove in a sauce pan. Here’s a tip to keep the milk from sticking to the sides of the pan when you heat it, rinse the sauce pan in cold water and drain prior to pouring in the milk. Also heat on low to gently bring the milk to a boil.
Ingredients
- 290 g flour – 2 cups
- 200 g sugar – 1 cup
- g unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder – 2/3 cup
- g pistachios – 1 cup – chopped
- 3 large eggs
- 4 g baking powder – 1.5 tsp
- 8 g salt – 1⁄8 tsp
- g butter – 2 oz. – softened
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- Set butter out to soften
- Use a food processor to fine the sugar
- Use the food processor to chop the pistachios
- Preheat oven to 300° F or 275° F fan.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
- Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and pistachios.
- Using a mixer blade attachment, mix butter and sugar on medium speed (#4) for 1-2 mins.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Low speed to #1 and add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined to make a dough. The dough will be very sticky and hard to work but it’s supposed to be that way so don’t add more flour.
- Either flour your hands or use disposable gloves to divide the dough into two sections that you form into long flat shapes 2″-4″ inches wide depending on how long you want your biscotti to be.
- Bake ~20 mins or until the crust has a light tan finish. Because of the eggs in the batter, the curst will harden and brown quickly. You are not trying to cook the dough all they way through, that will come later. For now you just want to firm up the cookie and harden the crust.
- Let the biscotti cool enough to handle, then using a bread knife (serrated knife), gently slice the loaves on an angle into 1/2 inch thick slices.
- Lay the slices flat side down on the baking sheet and bake 4-5 mins. Then flip them over and bake the other side another 4-5 mins. If the dough still looks undone in the center bake longer, but not so much as to over-bake the crust.
- Cool on a wire rack. Do not serve the biscotti right from the oven because the pistachios are very hot and take a while to cool down.
