Coffee Companion

My in-laws like coffee... a lot. So I thought I'd bring something to our Thanksgiving celebration that goes well with coffee. And since I love all things sweet and most things toffee this version seemed like a good candidate.

Chocolate-Toffee Biscotti
From The Ultimate Cookie Book by Better Homes and Gardens

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond toffee pieces
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate pieces
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tsp shortening
Almond toffee pieces (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a cookie sheet; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in the 1/2 cup toffee pieces and the chocolate pieces.
2. Divide dough in half (dough will be sticky). Using floured hands, on a lightly floured surface, shape each half of dough into an 8-inch-long loaf. Place loaves about 5 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch in the center. Transfer to a wire rack and let stand for 1 hour.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 325F. Transfer loaves to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut loaves diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. (Or cool completely; wrap and store overnight at room temperature before slicing.) Place slices, cut side down, on the cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Turn slices over. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes more or until dry. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
5. In a small saucepan heat and stir the chocolate and shortening over low heat until smooth. Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate mixture. Place on a sheet of waxed paper. If desired, sprinkle with additional almond toffee pieces. Let stand until chocolate is set.

Makes about 30 cookies.

The ingredients.

The completed dough.

The loaves of dough ready to go in the oven.

As you can tell I didn't get the dough split evenly so one loaf baked up larger than the other. I found this kind of annoying because I really strived for equality this time. Looking on the bright side though, this resulting in a wide variety of sizes in the cookies so people had lots of options to choose from. And who doesn't like options?

I let the loaves cool completely before I cut. I'd like to think it helped to keep the cookies from crumbling during the cutting process but I don't have a lot of evidence to support this theory. I know the one other time I've made biscotti I didn't wait and I had a lot of trouble keeping the slices together.

Aren't the slices so pretty?! Here they are all lined up to cool after the second baking.

Dipping anything in chocolate makes it better in my book. The biscotti is no exception. On a related note, playing with melted chocolate is very fun; the world would be a much better place if everyone worked with this liquid wonder more often!

Sprinkling with toffee pieces. I didn't really find a stellar technique for this. I dropped the toffee pieces on the chocolate right after dunking and since the chocolate was still pretty runny, the toffee would sometimes just slide right off. I guess I could have waited a few minutes and sprinkled the toffee on after the chocolate had set up a little but this seemed dangerous to me. What if I had waited too long and the chocolate was already set enough that the pieces just fell off? And then I'd end up wasting more toffee because I wouldn't be able to catch the run off pieces in a bowl. Any suggestions on the best way to sprinkle?

The final product: gold star! Crunchy and chewy and delicious. They are definitely dunkable but not so dry that they need to be. The chocolate and toffee combination is always great and the different incantations between the pieces in the dough and coating kept things interesting. The chocolate and toffee coating was very impressive and while not all that difficult, really made them look professional. This would be great for a coffee night or even a gift for a coffee-lover.