Cinnamon Toast Biscotti

Remember our little fettish with cinnamon toast? I am taking ramping it up a bit so we can dunk it in our coffee, well that is if you are a dunker. Me? Yes, I am a totally dunker.

Cinnamon toast:

Bread + butter + cinnamon + sugar = dreaminess

Pure bliss for breakfast.

Cinnamon toast biscotti:

I am going to eat cookies and have my toast too.

SO there you have it. Can't argue that.

Growing up mom kept a shaker of equal parts sugar and cinnamon next to the salt and pepper. I would liberally dust warm buttered flour tortillas or slices of toast when the urge hit. Sweet slightly spicey comfort food.

These days I shake the cinnamon sugar over my coffee, cookies and these biscotti.

I love biscotti. The crunch, the crumbs, the subtle flavors. For years I used this recipe for chocolate biscotti and I thought I was really on to something. A cookie with no butter. WAIT a minute! A cookie with no butter! They are good with the greatest chocolate intentions and I will continue to make them but when I want something decadent I want the real deal meal with butter and sugar in all of it's glory.

Butter makes everything better. Put butter in your biscotti. Biscotti needs butter.

Cinnamon Toast Biscotti

Adapted from Michael Ruhlman

Yield: About 2 dozen biscotti 

 Break out those scales, it will be worth it, I promise! Or use this conversion.

280 grams all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
120 grams butter, unsalted
170 grams sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Topping:

50 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 beaten egg (for brushing biscotti before baking)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or silpat.

Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping and set aside. 

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and whisk it to distribute the ingredients.

Cream the butter and sugar together with a paddle attachment in a standing mixer (or however you mix), for about 3-4 minutes.

Add in the eggs one at a time, scrape sides of bowl down with a rubber spatula after each addition of egg, then add vanilla extract.

Once the eggs are incorporated, turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour in the dry ingredients. Mix just until the dough comes together.

Flour a work surface and spatula the dough out of the bowl. Divide in half (it should be sticky, thus the flour; use as little flour as possible). Roll the dough into two cylinders 2 inches in diameter and place on the lined sheet tray far enough apart that they won’t relax into each other.

Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle very generously with cinnamon sugar topping.

Bake until golden brown, 35 minutes, then set aside to cool enough to handle, leaving the oven on.

Slice the cooled loaves with a serrated knife on the diaganal making 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch pieces, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar.

Place these slices on the sheet tray and bake for another 12-15 minutes, until they are lightly golden.

Remove from oven cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

chocolate hazelnut biscotti

I just made this recipe and am in love. Pure bliss for the hand to mouth. Not too sweet, not too heavy. Enjoy!

This New York Times recipe is as old as time. I wish I could tell you how many recipes for biscotti I dug through before finding a couple that didn’t have butter in them, but I’m not sure I can even count that high.

They are mildly sweet and chocolaty–they’re the exact opposite of a molten chocolate cake on the indulgent chocolate obsession sliding scale. They’re also quite easy to put together if you promise to watch out for one thing: this is the stickiest dough I have ever worked with and you cannot have too much flour down on your surface.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

New York Times, 12/12/93

Total time: 1 hour

Makes about 60 biscotti

1 cup whole hazelnuts, preferably blanched

2 1/2 cups flour, plus flour for work surface

1/2 cup Dutch-style cocoa powder

1 tablespoon espresso powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sugar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts on baking sheet and toast about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. If hazelnuts are not blanched, toast them until the skins begin to crack, then remove them from oven and wrap them in clean linen or cotton towel (not terrycloth). Rub hot nuts to remove most of the skin. Set toasted nuts aside.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder together and set aside.

3. Beat eggs lightly, just until blended, in mixing bowl with whisk or in electric mixer. Remove two tablespoons of egg mixture to small dish and set aside. Beat sugar into remaining eggs until blended. Stir in flour mixture to form soft dough.

4. Divide the dough in half and place one portion on a well-floured work surface. (She is not kidding about this.) With floured hands, pat it into a six-inch square. Scatter half the hazelnuts on the dough and press them into the surface. Roll the dough into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter and 12 to 15 inches long. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and place the roll of dough on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Brush the tops of both rolls with the reserved egg.

5. Place in the oven and bake about 15 minutes, until firm to the touch. (This took me until 20 to 25 minutes.) Transfer to a cutting board and cut on an angle into slices one-half-inch thick. (I found that letting them cool for five minutes made this easier, as well as a sharp knife with a tight serrate.) Return the slices to the baking sheet, laying them on their cut sides, and return them to the oven. Bake another 20 minutes, until they are crisp and dry. Allow to cool completely before storing or serving.