Today's blog is brought to you by the letter B

lately i have been searching for the perfect biscotti recipe. the balance of sweet and not too sweet. crunchy, but doesn't fall apart when you take a bite without dunking it in your coffee. flavorful, but doesn't take away from the earthy tones of a dark sumatran roast.
i thought my journey into the world of biscotti would be a simple one. do an online search, pull up a few recipes from trusted sites, and try them out (the best part). but unlike your standard cookie recipe (room temperature butter whipped with sugar, add eggs and vanilla...add the flour mixture...), biscotti does not have one basic formula. some use butter, some olive oil, and some use no fatty binder at all. the commonality in all recipes is that they are cooked twice, which makes sense since the etymology of the Italian word is medieval Latin: bis coctus, meaning "twice cooked". cool, huh?
i keep running into the same problem with each recipe i try: the biscotti fall a little flat. what would be perfect is some sort of biscotti pan which would prevent the batter from spreading out too far. actually, what would be perfect would be for me to figure out that combination of liquid and dry so that the batter doesn't spread quite as much.
this is the recipe i like the most. it is adapted from one on the food tv site, which is one of my favorite sites for ideas. I'm a huge alton brown fan and have a great time checking out his creative techniques.
Cinnamon Almond Biscotti

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup slivered (or chopped) almonds, toasted
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

the oven goes on 350 degrees and the baking sheet needs parchament paper.
mix your dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Mix your butter and sugar together and whip until color lightens. add your eggs and extract and mix well. add your dry ingredients and form a stiff dough. you may have to add more flour and i like to get my hands involved in the mixing. Add the almonds and chocolate chips...which are optional, but who would leave out the chocolate chips?
now split your dough in half. form each into logs 12 inches long and 2 inches wide. sprinkle with the confectioners sugar and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
pull them out and cool for about 5 minutes. slide the logs onto a cutting board and slice the logs diagonally into apprx. 3/4 inch slices. place these slices face up (cut side up/down, not sideways) back on baking sheet. bake about 10 minutes until crisp. these store well, but i end up giving mine away pretty quickly so i can try a new recipe.

the great thing about the biscotti recipe is the relatively small amount of butter, sugar and eggs. they aren't a terribly expensive recipe to make, so you can make them frequently. i would go bankrupt if i were searching for the perfect pound cake recipe!