An easy to make, and very tasty Chocolate Biscotti. Not too sweet but sweet enough. The red of the craisins adds a little Christmas colour to these. A small plate of these make a nice gift for a friend, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bit of ribbon.

Ingredients for Chocolate Biscotti

1/2 cup (125 ml) soft butter
2/3 cup (165 ml) sugar
2 eggs

1 3/4 (435 ml) cups  flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp (15 ml) instant coffee

2 tsp (10 ml baking soda
pinch of salt

1 cup (250 ml) blanched almonds slices
1/2 cup (125 ml) craisins

Preparing Chocolate Biscotti

  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.
  2. In another bowl use a whisk to mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and instant coffee.
  3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well mixed.
  4. Add in the almonds and craisins.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  7. Split dough into two parts and make each into a log – it will look a bit like a loaf of french bread – laid out on the parchment paper. Leave a few inches between the logs.
  8. Bake cookies from 25 to 30 minutes.
  9. Remove from oven and cool  on cookie sheet for roughly 5 minutes and then on a wire rack for about 15 minutes.
  10. Once cooled, use a serrated knife to cut the loaves into 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick slices – similar to a slice of bread.
  11. Transfer the slices to cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes on each side.
  12. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack.

Yields about 36