Chocolate, orange, almond and cranberry biscotti

This sounds like a really festive bake but it's made in the middle of summer! It will definitely be a great gift at the end of the year when it's 'C' time... just can't bring myself to say it in August! This recipe is of course inspired by the current season of the Great British Bake Off. It was biscuit week in week 2 and they made biscotti. I've baked Italian biscotti once before and they weren't hugely successful so I was really pleased with how these turned out.  Clearly, I have to work on shaping these as my biscotti were huge! They passed the crunch test and tasted delicious. The flavours work really well together and it really tasted very festive with the chocolate, cranberry and orange. I'm definitely baking more biscotti in the future and might be more adventurous with flavour combinations. 

I'm sending this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and co hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is The Great British Bake Off.

 adding dried cranberries, chocolate chips and blanched almonds 

 Love how the orange zest turns the eggs very orange! 

 biscotti loaves 

 sliced after the first round of baking

 biscotti! 

 

375g plain flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
200g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate chips
75g blanched almonds (bring a pot of water to boil, add the almonds for 1 minute then strain. Remove the skins by squeezing the end of the almond)
100g dried cranberries
3 eggs
zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon orange flavoured water

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Mix flour, baking powder and sugar. 
• Add in the chocolate chips, dried cranberries and blanched almonds and mix. 
• In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the orange zest and orange flavoured water (or fresh orange juice).
• Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. 
• Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into two fat sausages. 
• Place on a baking tray spaced apart, allowing room for spreading. 
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. 
• Reduce the oven temperature to 140C. 
• Allow the biscotti to cool for 10 minutes then slice diagonally using a bread knife. 
• Place the slices facing up on a baking tray and bake for a further 20 minutes or until crispy. 

Italian mixed nut and chocolate chip biscotti

I really struggled to come up with "I" recipes for our AlphaBakes challenge this month. I made ice cream cake pops earlier in the month and couldn't think of anything else until I thought about Italian biscotti. I found this recipe online from an Italian who lives in London and blogs at Broxholm Road. Her recipe is called Tozzetti alle nocciole della Tuscia. Tuscia is where she comes from and this recipe is from her mum. I was really excited to try this authentic Italian recipe but sadly my biscotti looks nowhere like hers :( I'm not quite sure where I went wrong as I followed the recipe closely but the end result was still really tasty. My dough was not sticky enough and I wasn't sure how to correct this - anyone has any tips/ideas? The biscotti was really crunchy and nutty and I particularly liked the chocolate chips.

As mentioned, this is for AlphaBakes, a monthly blogging challenge hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes and by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is "I" for Italian biscotti. I will be hosting April's challenge so check back on 1st April to see what the next letter is. Don't worry, it won't be an April fool's joke ;) 

I used mixed nuts instead of hazelnuts as that's what I had 

 Making the dough which looks a bit crumbly 

 adding in the nuts and chocolate chips 

 my poor attempt at biscotti making! 

 baked and ready to slice 

 then baked again 

 delicious! 

Recipe from Broxholm Road

350g flour (plus extra if required)

250g caster sugar

80g butter

2 eggs (plus 1 for brushing)

250g mixed nuts or hazelnuts

130g chocolate chips

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

Grated zest of 1 lemon

pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• Roast the nuts until lightly browned, approximately 8 - 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan or microwave and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs together. 
• Add in flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, lemon zest and salt.
• Mix well. 
• Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
• Shape the dough into 2 long sausage shapes. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. 
• Arrange the sausage shaped dough on a baking tray and brush with egg wash. 
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool for 30-40 minutes.
• Slice each log diagonally.
• Arrange slices on a baking tray and bake until dry, approximately 10-15 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely. 

Almond Biscotti

I got this recipe from my mum which is a great way to use up left over egg whites.  It's a really easy and simple recipe with great results.  They're even better than the ones at Starbucks! I have made countless rounds of this recipe in the past few weeks including this lovely jar that I sold to a friend. The biscotti is light and crunchy with the delicious taste of roasted almonds. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. 

 beat egg whites until stiff 

 adding almonds 

 bake in loaf tin 

 or a mini loaf tin 

4 egg whites

110g caster sugar

110g plain flour

200g whole almonds

• Preheat oven to 170C. 
• Beat egg whites for a few minutes and then add sugar gradually until stiff peaks form. 
• Fold in the flour.
• Add almonds and stir in the mixture with a spatula. 
• Pour into a loaf tin or roll into a log. 
• Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes until light brown. 
• Wrap in foil and keep for 1-2 days.
• Slice thinly and bake again for 45 minutes at 130C until brown and crispy.