These Black & White Biscotti have become a family fave. I originally started making them for Christmas cookie trays (even though we have not a drop of Italian in our family tree) partially because they’re insanely good and partially because they travel and/or ship so well. Now I just make them anytime I have an urge.
Black & White Biscotti
It doesn’t hurt that most biscotti are frugal by nature and made with the simplest of ingredients, either. These crispy little chocolate and vanilla cookies are a perfect example of the sum equaling more than the parts. They’re perfect for crunchy eating and perfect for dipping in coffee.
About Black & White Biscotti:
The ancient Romans carried Biscotti on trips to sustain them. We usually just carry them from the coffee shop. Make them at home and you can make three dozen or so for less than the price of a single coffee shop Biscotti.
Bring them on a road trip, bring them camping or skiing. Throw several in a cellophane bag and put in a nice mug for your children’s teachers or office coworkers.
36 cookies go a long way. (They do store very easily, keeping fresh for weeks.) The majority of the cookies will be seven to eight inches long, the ones cut from the ends slightly smaller, so these are not the huge American bakery-style biscotti.
Making Black & White Biscotti:
Biscotti is fairly easy to make, even one with two flavors to the dough, the chocolate, and vanilla. You just make the entire dough, remove the vanilla portion and add chocolate to what remains in your mixing bowl.
What takes a bit of time is baking, cutting, and then baking again. You’ll want to know your oven on this one and keep a watchful eye out.
When they’re finished and cool, drizzle with white and/or dark chocolate for just a bit more sweetness. You’ll have a little more control with a pastry bag and small tip, but go freehand with a spoon if you wish, or improvise a pastry bag by cutting off a smidge on the corner of a Ziploc.
These cookies can be made ahead by days ahead, although you may want to drizzle day of, allowing enough time for the chocolate to set before serving. Logs of the dough can be shaped and frozen and baked from the frozen state. Just allow a few extra minutes on the first bake.
Variations:
- Feel free to vary or omit any nuts. The yield will be slightly less with no nuts but our family actually prefers them this way.
- If you wish, vary the extracts (careful, some are strong and you won’t want to use as much) or liqueur if you go that way. It’s fun to use liqueur or extract that matches the nuts – for instance, Frangelica to Hazelnuts.
- You could, of course, make this much more inexpensive by making them all one flavor and omitting the chocolate altogether.
Saving Money on Black & White Biscotti:
I’m very strategic about when I buy my baking goods. I shop the deep discounts around the major holidays and stock up. You can see my post on Win at the Grocers to see what might be on sale during any of our major holiday weeks.
Aldi and if you use larger quantities of items, your buyer’s club are great places to stock up, too, often rivaling the grocery store sale prices.
Butter is one item I pay close attention to, buying at a low and stocking my freezer with enough to last to the next great sale cycle. I never know how many chocolate chips I might need (or eat – yeah, you read that right) but I always pick up extra packages when they are at a rock bottom low.
PrintBlack & White Biscotti
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 36 cookies 1x
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup chopped nuts, optional (walnuts, pecans, almonds or hazelnuts all work well here.)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla (a hazelnut liqueur is good here)
- 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
For the Drizzle (optional)
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons butter or shortening
Instructions
For the Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until mixed, one to two minutes. Add eggs and vanilla or liqueur and beat till light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Stir in nuts, if using. Remove half of dough and add chocolate to the remaining. Mix lightly.
Divide each portion, the chocolate and vanilla in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each portion out into a 6 x 3″ log. Place one chocolate portion onto each vanilla portion. Roll again into about a 10 x 4 1/2″ log. They will spread so leave lots of room. You can vary the measurements, but it alters the baking time so watch closely.
Place each log three inches apart on a baking sheet and bake 20 to 28 minutes until the vanilla portion just begins to show a bit of color. Let cool for 15 minutes and slice carefully into half-inch slices on the diagonal. (Save any crumbs to sprinkle over ice cream.)
Place each cookie with a cut side down on the cookie sheet and bake an additional 14 – 18 minutes, turning halfway through. The outside should be just golden brown when finished.
For the Drizzle (optional)
When the cookies come out of the oven, melt each type of chip with one teaspoon of butter or shortening. (Do this in the microwave in short intervals of about 25 seconds, stirring after each interval, until melted.)
Once the cookies are cool, drizzle the chocolate over the cookies using a spoon, or if you’d like a more professional look, use a pastry bag and small tip. You can sub the pastry bag by using a Ziploc with a corner snipped off. It’s messier, though.
Additional notes:
- Use a very thin sharp knife to cut, with a very specific motion: Drag the tip through till near the end of the slice, then bring the knife down – it seems to make better cuts with fewer crumbs.
- An offset spatula helps to move the hot cut, but not yet twice-baked cookies, a couple at a time to where they need to be on the cookie sheet.
Nutrition for Black and White Biscotti, per cookie:
Cal 86, Cal fr fat 26, 33%, tot fat 3g, sat fat 2 g, chol 14mg; sod 61mg, tot carb 12g; fib .5g; sug 6g; fib 1.5 g
Keywords: Alcohol, biscotti, Chocolate, Chocolate Chips, Cookies, Desserts, hazelnuts, Italian, nuts, white chocolate
Black & White Biscotti made April 2012