Failure, success, and double chocolate biscotti

This post was supposed to contain lovely pictures of the special "Valentine's" cookies we made.  Pink, heart-shaped cookies that looked positively perfect on someone else's website.  

They didn't look so perfect in my kitchen.  

Their shape more closely resembled blobs.  Pink blobs.  So, although my kids thought they were delicious, I had no desire to take the pictures that I thought I would.  But that's ok.  Another baking opportunity presented itself.

I made biscotti several years ago and it did not turn out well.  I always knew I'd try it again someday.  Especially since I consider a yummy piece of biscotti dipped in my coffee to be quite the treat.  After making a batch of these and ending up with about 20 cookies, I'm feeling much less inclined to purchase biscotti from the grocer's shelf.  

By the way, Joelle and Brienne helped make these and they really like the turn out.  They like to dip biscotti in their hot cocoa for a yummy treat!

Double Chocolate Biscotti

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 (one ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Gradually beat in the cocoa and baking powder, beat for 2 minutes.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the flour by hand.

Mix in both of the chocolates.  

Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

After 10 minutes, divide the dough in half.  Form each half into a 9 inch long log.  (This was a lot like playing with Playdo, I did this right on top of the cookie sheet.)

Place them on the cookie sheet about 4 inches apart and flatten them slightly.

Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack and cool for one hour.

Now we come to part two of this process.  After all biscotti is a "twice-baked biscuit".

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut each loaf into 1/2 inch wide diagonal slices.  Place the slices on the cookie sheet you used before, only this time you don't want to grease it.

Bake the biscotti for 7-9 minutes.

Pull them out, turn each one over and bake for an additional 7 to 9 minutes.

Cool completely and store in an airtight container until you are ready to enjoy!