Cinnamon Almond Biscotti with Chocolate Glaze

 Because I grew up in a small town void of any kind of bakery and I'm about as Italian as a bierock, until a few years ago I couldn't tell you what biscotti was if my life depended on it.  Fortunately, it never did.  But I made my own biscotti for the the first time last year around Christmas and fell in love.  A crispy cookie made for dipping in a cup of hot coffee?  Yes, please!  

Biscotti is one of those things that looks so fancy it fools you into thinking it must be hard to make.  Wrong!  I was surprised at how easy these pretty cookies were to make.  I can't tell you how many times I have made something that looked really good in the recipe picture, only to look hideous when I made it.  This was not one of those recipes.  The first time I made these I wrapped them up and took them to work as gifts for my coworkers.  Everyone thought they came from a bakery.  And trust me, if I can make bakery-quality biscotti, you can too!

As far as making the dough goes, biscotti is the same as most other cookies.  Beat butter and sugar, add an egg and some vanilla.  

Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

Stir in the chopped almonds.  This was my first time adding almonds.  Next time I will chop them a little smaller.  The big almond chunks made it harder to cut the biscotti.

Then form the dough into 2 12-inch logs.  I used my scale to make sure my to halves where actually halves.  And of course I had to use my ruler to make sure they were 12 inches.  You're welcome for the free advertising, Brush Art Corporation!

Then flatten the two logs until they are 1/2 inch thick.  I just used my hands.  I have learned from experience that you want the width to be fairly even so that your cookies end up about the same size.

Bake the cookies for 30 minutes and remove from the oven.

Let the cookies cool, and then slice them width-wide.  I had a few casualties in the slicing process due to the almonds.  I had to eat them.  Bummer.

Then put them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until they get crispy.  

To make the chocolate glaze, simply melt chocolate chips in the microwave and stir them up.  Apparently I chose a knife for stirring.  Interesting choice I must say.

While the chocolate is still hot, stir in some shortening and light corn syrup until the mixture is smooth.

When the cookies cool, glaze with chocolate.  Don't you love things that end in, "glaze with chocolate?" 

 Serve with a cup of hot coffee and the God for the Italians.

Cinnamon Almond Biscotti with Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour mix to butter mix just until combined.  Stir in chopped almonds.

Shape dough into two equal 12-inch logs.  Place logs on baking sheet, and flatten out to about 1/2 inch thickness. 

Bake for 30 minutes, or until center is firm and edges are golden.  Remove from oven and let cool on pans.  

When cool enough to handle, cut the loaves into about 1/2 inch slices.  Return the slices to the baking sheet, cut side up.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes, turning once.  Cool completely then glaze with chocolate.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp shortening

1 Tbsp light corn syrup.

Directions:

Melt chocolate chips in microwave.  Stir in shortening and corn syrup until mixture is smooth. 

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com