The Fresh Loaf

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Chocolate-Chocolate Chip-Hazelnut-Chipotle Biscotti

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip-Hazelnut-Chipotle Biscotti

It's that time of year: time to think about the upcoming holidays, the New Year, and our 6th Annual open house. Taking a note from the ancient Incas, I thought "chocolate and chili.?

Hmm-m-m-m."

Almost nailed it first try! The chipotle heat shows up late on the back of the throat. One of those, "There can't be chili in this cookie!?" moments.

David G

 

 

Comments

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Anything with chocolate in the name twice, I've gotta try!  Is this a recipe you can post David?  They look totally mag!  Are those light chunks all hazel nuts, or did you slip in some white chocolate chips?

Tasty looking bake David!
OldWoodenSpoon

davidg618's picture
davidg618

1/2 cup (114g) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup (133g) sugar

2 eggs, large (approx 50g each)

1/4 cup (18g) cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

2 tsp (8g) baking powder

1-3/4 cup (215g) AP flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 to 1 tsp Chipotle chili powder, depending on how much heat you want. I used 1/2 tsp, but will increase it to at least 3/4 tsp next time.

1/2 cup (64g) hazlenuts, chopped

3/4 cup (125g) chocolate chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

Either by hand or machine:

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time. Beat until lemony colored.

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and chili powder together. Add to the wet ingredients and beat only until smooth and all the flour mixture is incorporated; about 1 min. on low

By hand: Fold in the hazlenuts and chocolate chips.

Shape two logs about 9 by 2-1/2 inches, on a lightly greased cookie sheet, or ungreased parchment paper, or Silpat. Flatten to about 3/4 ". Bake @ 350°F for 15 to 17 mins. until just firm to the touch, or a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins. Reduce oven temp. to 300°F. Cut logs, on a bias, into 3/4" slices using a serrated blade knife. Arrange on cookie sheet cut sides up and down. Bake for 20 mins. Turn biscotti over, and bake for another 20 mins., or until very dry and firm to the touch.

Cool, Enjoy.

David G

P.S. I didn't use any white chocolate chips, but they'd be a great addition.

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Thank you for this David!  It looks easy enough.  The dark chocolate goes better with the chipotle than the typical semi-sweet variety I'll wager. 
OldWoodenSpoon

davidg618's picture
davidg618

I specifically choose dark chocolate cocoa and chips because of the chipotle. If you like dark chocolate, you'll love these.

David G

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

We love dark chocolate, and we love these!  I baked these (see my blog post here) last night and they are wonderful.  The dough was very wet and sticky though, and I wonder:  is that normal?  It took extra time to get them done to the first stage so I could cut them, and it took extra time as well to dry them out.  What is your dough like when you shape it into logs?  Mine would not "stand up" but slumped without being flattened down.

Thanks for a great recipe!
OldWoodenSpoon

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Those look great!

I guess I should have warned you, the dough is usually very wet. I make biscotti frequently, but never, before now, with chocolate: citron-hazelnut, pastachio-crasains, pecan-tart dried cherries, and almond-amaretto; all sweet doughs. I also make a parmasen-black pepper savory biscotti that I love. (especially with beer or sauvignon blanc). I'm planning on experimenting with other savory combinations, after Thanks-giving. I'm thinking sundried tomato-basil-marjoram, spinach-goat cheese, and tappenade-goat cheese to start. I feel the biscotti deserves to fan out from just being a dessert cookie.

All the recipes I've tried--four or five--say, "form two logs..." invariably I wind up with wet dough. I scoop the dough out onto a Silpat pad-lined sheet pan and, using a wet bowl scraper, "sculpt" two trapazoideal shapes like the sketch below.  The dotted lines represent bias-cut lines. With the skewed ends there is less waste.

 I don't have any advice on the baking times. I do the first bake intentionally just until the tops spring back to the touch. If it were a single bake, I'd likely add a couple of minutes, and watch for the edges browning. For this bake it took 16 mins. The second bake first side went a full twenty-minutes, the flip side only 17 mins. This is right in line with all my biscotti bakes. I recall going 22 mins on the flip side bake a couple of times, but otherwise as stated.

I find home-baked biscotti, much lighter, crispier and easier on the jaw compared to what one finds in the coffee shops. I much prefer home baked. 

David G

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Thanks for the added tips!  Thank you, too, for your comments over on my own blog.

  I can see, given how wet and sticky the dough is, why you would use a silpat.  I had a lot of trouble moving those logs around!  With the silpat you can shape and bake on the same surface.  I used wax paper to shape on, then moved the log/blob shapes to parchment for baking, and used the wax paper to press them down a little.  It worked, but it was  a sticky, difficult mess too.  I may have to give in and buy a silpat mat, because these are worth it and I'll bake them again.

OldWoodenSpoon

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Hi,

I know they are a bit pricy, at about $20, but they are worth every penny. I've had two of them for over a decade. They get used every week--if not every day, some weeks. Except for a few stains they are as good as new.

Glad I inspired you to try biscotti.

David G

dablues's picture
dablues

awesome looking biscotti!!

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Nice recipe, David.  Only thing I'd change is to dip the finished biscotti in dark chocolate.  I just like triple-chocolate.

Thanks.

Glenn

davidg618's picture
davidg618

...no such thing as too much chocolate! I think I'll serve these with your recommended dipping sauce.

David G

Skibum's picture
Skibum

During a visit to my local deli, I noticed they were offering chocolate hazelnut crunch, which sort of looked like a biscotti.  Thus inspired, I searched TFL and found your thread and recipe.  The addition of chipotle to the double chocolate is brialiant -- truly inspired baking!  I tried a half batch today and loved them!  I too will up the chili next time around.

Great recipe, thanks for sharing!

Brian

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Glad you're enjoying them. They've become a household favorite; there's been a batch on the sideboard, perpetually replaced every couple of weeks since I first hatched the recipe last year. I've settled on a full 1 tsp of chipotle chili powder, otherwise the recipe hasn't changed an iota.

David G

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Hi Dave, I baked a 2nd batch yesterday and this time bought some dark chocolate chips.  All I had the first go around was medium sweet chipits.  I baked a half recipe and used a full tsp of chipotle powder.  Not having commercial powder, I pounded some dried chipotles in a mortar and pestle and then sifted it.  The dark chocolate really pairs with the chilli well!  Awesome recipe Dave, you rock!

I would love to try some of the other biscotti you mentioned:  citron-hazelnut, pastachio-crasains, pecan-tart dried cherries, and almond-amaretto; all sweet doughs. I also make a parmasen-black pepper savory biscotti that I love.  I checked your blog and couldn't find any biscotti reference.  I would love to try your parmesan, black pepper biscotti and actually all of the other as well!  I wonder if you would be kind enough to post these great sounding recipes or links to them.  Many thanks for creating some GREAT flavour!

Regards, Brian

 

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Hi, Brian

I'm tardy getting back to you; I've been away at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC for a week learning more about Charcuterie. In six days we reduced a whole hog to delicious sausages, roasts, hams, pates, spreads, and cold meats. I purposely left all my electronic communications gear at home.

Here is a basic recipe for sweet biscotti: (makes 2 loaves, about 30 biscotti cookies)

2 c (250g)  all purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c (114g) unsalted butter

3/4 c (150g) granulated sugar

1 to 2 Tbls Lemon Zest--do not omit!

1/2 tsp salt--reduce to 0 to 1/4 tsp if you substitute salted butter

2 large eggs (100g)

1 tsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Do not use a baking stone, nor leave one in the oven. The oven needs to cool quickly for the second baking. The heat stored in some baking stones will prevent that.

Cream the butter, sugar until homogeneous. Add eggs and vanilla and beat together. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to distribute evenly.

Note: If you use additional liquid flavoring extracts (see below) they can be added with the vanilla. We use vanilla, regardless of what other extracts we also add.

Combine the dry ingredients with the wet, and either by hand or on lowest mixer setting fold or beat them until they are just combined.

By hand, using a rubber spatula, fold in nuts and dried fruits (see below) gently until evenly distributed.

The dough should be stiff, but will still be sticky.

On half-sheet pan or cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper or a fiberglass pad, form two trapezoids--see "You didn't make any mistakes!" posting to OldWoodenSpoon--above in this thread--for details.

Bake until top center of the loaves spring back to a light touch, or a toothpick come out cleanly. (usually 16 to 18 mins.)

Remove from oven, let cool on pan for 10 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

When cooled, carefully remove one loaf to a cutting board--I use an eight-inch wide cake-transfer spatula. There is a danger of the loaves breaking in half from their own weight unless you support both ends.

Using a serrated blade cut 3/4" inch thick slices, on a bias and return them to the baking pan, one cut side down. Do the same with the second loaf.

Bake for 20 minutes at 300°F, test for crispness--the up side should be very firm, a slight spring is ok. Remove the pan from the oven, and flip each cookie exposing the original down side. Bake another 20 minutes or until the up side is crisp (no spring) and dry. Remove and cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Nut and Dried Fruit combinations we've tried:

Regardless of which combinations, we use 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts, and 2/3 cup coarsely chopped dried fruit.

Pistachio/Craisans, Hazelnut/Candied lemon rind, Pecans/dried Tart Cherries; and my wife's favorite: Almonds with 2 tsp each of Amaretto and Almond extracts (from King Arthur) and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

But you're certainly not limited to just these. For example, this holiday season I'm going to chop par-boiled fresh pumpkin (just slightly soft) to a 3/16th" dice, and add 2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice to the mix.

Parmesan/Black Pepper Biscotti

(this recipe makes four loaves, makes about 60 biscotti cookies)

1-1/2 Tbls whole black peppercorns, seperated into 1 Tbls (for dough) and 1/2 Tbls (for sprinkling on top)

4 c (500g) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

4-1/2 oz. (128g) finely grated Parmesan cheese; reserve 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top.

3/4 c (170g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes.

3 large eggs (150g) lightly whisked

1 cup (245g) whole milk, whisk into eggs

1 egg yolk and 1 Tbls water, whisked for glaze

Directions

The original recipe prescribes cutting the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers, forming a coarse meal texture--like biscuit dough. I've made these entirely in a mixer, creaming the eggs and butter together before adding the dry ingredients and the milk. I couldn't discern any difference in the finished biscotti.

Pulse the peppercorns in a spice grinder until reaching a coarse grind.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, 1 Tbls of ground pepper, and all but 1/4 cup of the grated cheese and whisk together.

Add the butter, and cut in with a pastry cutter until a coarse meal forms. Add the 3 eggs and milk and stir until a well-formed dough results.

Note: This dough may be slightly sticky, you can shape trapezoids with a spatula as described--that's what I do--or turn the divided dough onto a floured board and shape logs, transferring them to the lined baking sheet and flattening the logs slightly.

Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash, and sprinkle them evenly with the reserved pepper and grated cheese.

Bake, as described above at 350°F , switching the pans position half-way if on two shelves, until the tops spring back when lightly compressed.

Remove, reduce the oven temperature to 300°F, cool the loaves for 10 minutes then cut and bake, flip and finish as described above.

Although I haven't yet tried it, I think we could substitute 100g to 128g of additional flour for the cheeses and make a basic savory dough, adding inovative mixtures of crumbled cheeses, herbs, spices, and nuts; e.g., Walnut/Bleu Cheese, Almond/Feta, just Rosmary and/or other herbs, Basil/Pepperoni, Pistachio/Morta Della, Jalapeno/fresh corn kernels, or anything your imagination can create. Since the biscotti usually accompanies wine I'd look for combinations that complement the wines and/or the entrees if served with dinner. Herbs to added to the dry ingredients, Nuts and crumbled cheeses folded in to the finished dough.

Note: These savory biscotti tend to be more hydroscopic than the sweet biscotti. I suggest you store them in a doubled plastic bag, or in a tightly sealed container.

Enjoy!

David G

 

 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

your biscotti recipes, Dave!  My mouth is watering just reading them and I can't wait to try the savory pepper and parma.  I am tempted to add sauted garlic and some fresh rosemary . . . so many possibilities!!

It sounds like you had an interesting week preparing and eating all that hog!  Quite an experience for sure and you were quite correcxt going off line for that time.  Nice idea for a cooking getaway.

Again thanks for sharing!  Brian

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Hi, Brian

I'm tardy getting back to you; I've been away at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC for a week learning more about Charcuterie. In six days we reduced a whole hog to delicious sausages, roasts, hams, pates, spreads, and cold meats. I purposely left all my electronic communications gear at home.

Here is a basic recipe for sweet biscotti: (makes 2 loaves, about 30 biscotti cookies)

2 c (250g)  all purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c (114g) unsalted butter

3/4 c (150g) granulated sugar

1 to 2 Tbls Lemon Zest--do not omit!

1/2 tsp salt--reduce to 0 to 1/4 tsp if you substitute salted butter

2 large eggs (100g)

1 tsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Do not use a baking stone, nor leave one in the oven. The oven needs to cool quickly for the second baking. The heat stored in some baking stones will prevent that.

Cream the butter, sugar until homogeneous. Add eggs and vanilla and beat together. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to distribute evenly.

Note: If you use additional liquid flavoring extracts (see below) they can be added with the vanilla. We use vanilla, regardless of what other extracts we also add.

Combine the dry ingredients with the wet, and either by hand or on lowest mixer setting fold or beat them until they are just combined.

By hand, using a rubber spatula, fold in nuts and dried fruits (see below) gently until evenly distributed.

The dough should be stiff, but will still be sticky.

On half-sheet pan or cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper or a fiberglass pad, form two trapezoids--see "You didn't make any mistakes!" posting to OldWoodenSpoon--above in this thread--for details.

Bake until top center of the loaves spring back to a light touch, or a toothpick come out cleanly. (usually 16 to 18 mins.)

Remove from oven, let cool on pan for 10 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

When cooled, carefully remove one loaf to a cutting board--I use an eight-inch wide cake-transfer spatula. There is a danger of the loaves breaking in half from their own weight unless you support both ends.

Using a serrated blade cut 3/4" inch thick slices, on a bias and return them to the baking pan, one cut side down. Do the same with the second loaf.

Bake for 20 minutes at 300°F, test for crispness--the up side should be very firm, a slight spring is ok. Remove the pan from the oven, and flip each cookie exposing the original down side. Bake another 20 minutes or until the up side is crisp (no spring) and dry. Remove and cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Nut and Dried Fruit combinations we've tried:

Regardless of which combinations, we use 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts, and 2/3 cup coarsely chopped dried fruit. (Roast all nuts for heightened flavor.)

Pistachio/Craisans, Hazelnut/Candied lemon rind, Pecans/dried Tart Cherries; and my wife's favorite: Almonds with 2 tsp each of Amaretto and Almond extracts (from King Arthur) and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

But you're certainly not limited to just these. For example, this holiday season I'm going to chop par-boiled fresh pumpkin (just slightly soft) to a 3/16th" dice, and add 2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice to the mix.

Parmesan/Black Pepper Biscotti

(this recipe makes four loaves, makes about 60 biscotti cookies)

1-1/2 Tbls whole black peppercorns, seperated into 1 Tbls (for dough) and 1/2 Tbls (for sprinkling on top)

4 c (500g) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

4-1/2 oz. (128g) finely grated Parmesan cheese; reserve 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top.

3/4 c (170g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes.

3 large eggs (150g) lightly whisked

1 cup (245g) whole milk, whisk into eggs

1 egg yolk and 1 Tbls water, whisked for glaze

Directions

The original recipe prescribes cutting the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers, forming a coarse meal texture--like biscuit dough. I've made these entirely in a mixer, creaming the eggs and butter together before adding the dry ingredients and the milk. I couldn't discern any difference in the finished biscotti.

Pulse the peppercorns in a spice grinder until reaching a coarse grind.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, 1 Tbls of ground pepper, and all but 1/4 cup of the grated cheese and whisk together.

Add the butter, and cut in with a pastry cutter until a coarse meal forms. Add the 3 eggs and milk and stir until a well-formed dough results.

Note: This dough may be slightly sticky, you can shape trapezoids with a spatula as described--that's what I do--or turn the divided dough onto a floured board and shape logs, transferring them to the lined baking sheet and flattening the logs slightly.

Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash, and sprinkle them evenly with the reserved pepper and grated cheese.

Bake, as described above at 350°F , switching the pans position half-way if on two shelves, until the tops spring back when lightly compressed.

Remove, reduce the oven temperature to 300°F, cool the loaves for 10 minutes then cut and bake, flip and finish as described above.

Although I haven't yet tried it, I think we could substitute 100g to 128g of additional flour for the cheeses and make a basic savory dough, adding inovative mixtures of crumbled cheeses, herbs, spices, and nuts; e.g., Walnut/Bleu Cheese, Almond/Feta, just Rosmary and/or other herbs, Basil or Rosemary/Sundried Tomato, Basil/Pepperoni, Pistachio/Morta Della, Jalapeno/fresh corn kernels, or anything your imagination can create. Since the biscotti usually accompanies wine I'd look for combinations that complement the wines and/or the entrees if served with dinner. Herbs to added to the dry ingredients, nuts and crumbled cheeses folded into to the finished dough.

Note: These savory biscotti tend to be more hydroscopic than the sweet biscotti. I suggest you store them in a doubled plastic bag, or in a tightly sealed container.

Enjoy!

David G

 

 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Hi David, I finally got a chance to try this recipe out this afternoon and I am an immediate fan!  Used mostly freshly ground regggiano parsiana and added some romano pecorino to round things out.  The pepper in the dough was cracked in a mortar and pestle and iswas quite coarse.  I think next time I do this one, I will add some olive tapenade and fresh rosemary.

I also baked a side by side 1/2 batch of the 2x chocolate, hazelnut, chipotle biscotti  and as I had left over egg wash, brushed some on top and then sprinkled some coarser chipotle leftovers.over top.  That step definitely add zing.  So far everyone that has tried this recipe has been totally hooked.

Many thanks for sharing some delicious ideas!

Bake ON!  Brian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Chipotle addition to Chocolate Biscotti and love Chipotle in just about anything so will give your recipe a go if we can find some hazelnuts. Why they are difficult to find I I don't know.  We don't use the Silpat much but this time we will.

Nice baking David.

Skibum's picture
Skibum

if you can't find hazelnuts.  I think the almond version would go down just fine!  Daves's savoury versions with rosemary and parmesan cheese sound intriguing.  I am guessing you would swap flour for most of the sugar in the savory version, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup grated parmgaino reggiano  some grated romano pecorina, minced garlic fried in butter and oil and fresh olives. Perhaps a foccacia would be better for this mix . . .So little time and so many possibilities!

Bake ON!  Brian