Chocolate Almond Biscotti

What do you bring to a Superbowl if you're not particularly interested in "football" foods?  Well, if you're me, you bring Chocolate Almond Biscotti.

To me, the most fun thing about making biscotti is to hear the incredulous voices of your friends say, "you made this?"  Unlike other cookies, I think that people somehow assume that these are hard to make (they're not).  Throughout the night, I kept hearing, "but you didn't make the biscotti, did you?  Really!?!"  After an hour or two of that, my little ego was doing quite well, thank you very much.

I love making biscotti, in part because it's such a hearty cookie.  Once you've eaten a piece or two, you don't get that uncomfortable sugar rush that you get from regular cookies (maybe because of the nuts?), you just feel happy and satisfied.  And they might actually soak up a beer or two.  See?  Perfect Superbowl food.

That being said, you know what goes really well with Superbowl biscotti?  A big bag of cool ranch doritos.  Hey, it was the superbowl.  And holy cow, do I love doritos...

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for the almonds

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 ounces dark chocolate, melted

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup raw unsalted almonds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Chop almonds into small pieces.

3. In a saute pan, on medium heat, toast almond pieces in one tablespoon of olive oil for approximately 2 minutes.

4. In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar. Mix in the vanilla, melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and eggs.

5. Add 1 cup of flour, then salt, and baking powder, then final 1/2 cup flour.

6. Mix the toasted nuts into the batter.

7. Divide dough in half. Form two logs on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 35 minutes, or until logs are slightly golden. Remove from oven, cool for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees.

9. Cut logs at a diagonal angle (approximately 30 degrees) into 3/4" thick slices.

10. Lay cookies on their sides on parchment cookie sheet. Bake approximately 9 more minutes, cool, and serve.

Makes about 20-24 biscotti.