Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Biscotti
Just like the women before me, I love baking biscotti. Thank you, Mom and Grandma! They taught me so many traditional, heritage recipes, and the family repertoire was not lacking in cookies. Biscotti aren’t exactly cookies, per se—but they are sweet, crunchy, and sooo satisfying dunked in a hot cup of coffee.
This particular recipe combines three of my favorite flavors: rich chocolate, energizing espresso, and creamy, earthy, hazelnuts. Combined with the sweetness of sugar and the warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg, this might even be my (shhh) favorite biscotti recipe ever.
You may have seen this recipe on Chicago’s Very Own WGB Channel 9, Midday Lunchbreak. Abbondanza!
That’s right, my chocolate espresso hazelnut biscotti recipe is so good I included it in my cookie cookbook, A Gift of Cookies: Recipes to Share with Family & Friends... and it was featured on Chicago’s own WGN Channel 9 “Midday Lunch Break” segment. Yep, it was good enough to go on TV. Try this recipe and see for yourself. Abbondanza!
Mary’s Favorite Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup (4 ounces) softened unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon cognac (optional)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1¼ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup whole, skinned, coarsely chopped hazelnuts (coarsely chopped walnuts would work, too)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and espresso powder. With the mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If you’re using it, add the tablespoon of cognac now. Then, beat until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Add chocolate chips and hazelnuts, mixing until just incorporated.
- Form the dough into two logs about 2 inches wide by 12 inches long. Place the logs on a parchment-lined sheet pan 3 inches apart.
- Bake the dough logs for about 25 minutes or until firm. The bottoms should be golden brown.
- Remove the loaves from the oven and let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice on a 45-degree angle into ½ inch slices.
- Place the slices, cut side down, back on the sheet pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the biscotti over and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Transfer the baked biscotti to a cooling rack. Once they are completely cooled, you can store them in an airtight container.
