Chocolate-Chili Biscotti
Calling all dark chocolate lovers to join me in trying this daring recipe!
The past few months gave me an opportunity to try out different biscotti recipes at home, like the pistachio cranberry biscotti that I posted before. I’ve been thinking of different ways to mix up the basic biscotti recipe and do something different. Growing up, we used to eat these butter cookies that were slightly spicy which we simply used to call, and no surprises here, spicy cookie. I am not sure if there was any particular name for it. I remember tasting pepper when biting into it. My sister and I loved the hint of heat that went well with our evening tea. I haven’t found those cookies here in the US. What I did find instead were these heavenly chili flavored chocolate bars from Lindt. It was love at first bite. I may be biased since I grew up eating a lot of spicy food growing up, but what I really like about these bars is that they offer the perfect combination of dark chocolate and chili. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a sucker for dark chocolate. When I got a hold of a few of these bars during a recent grocery run, I initially thought of including them for a muffin recipe. That’s when Suraj recommended that the sweet-heat combo might work better with something crunchy. So, I went with these biscotti instead and turns out, his intuition was right.
You’ll get a hint of heat with lots of chocolaty flavor from these biscotti. If you dare, double the measurement of cayenne powder. I am going to try it next time and might even add a teaspoon of espresso powder. I will post an update here on how it went. This recipe calls for a little extra sugar than other biscotti recipes so as to balance out the bitterness from the dark chocolate and cocoa powder. I found the measurements used here to be just right for a good balance of heat, sweet and bitter.
Chocolate-Chili Biscotti
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, use a mixer to beat the granulated and brown sugar with butter until fully blended and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients and chopped chocolate bar and stir on low speed until just combined
Dust your work space with flour. Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough ball. Add some more flour if it is too sticky. Cut the dough ball in half. Form each half into short logs by rolling back and forth. Place the logs onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into longer logs about 3/4-inch high and 2 inches wide.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until firm to the touch. Let the biscotti logs cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, or until they’re cool enough to touch. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs at an angle into 3/4-inch slices.
Turn the biscotti on their sides so that the cut sides are facing down and place back in the oven for 5 more minutes to dry and crisp up.
Take them out and turn them over to the other side and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
Thank you for trying this with me!
I’d love to see it on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #ttwmblog and I’ll be sure to find it.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, use a mixer to beat the granulated and brown sugar with butter until fully blended and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients and chopped chocolate bar and stir on low speed until just combined
Dust your work space with flour. Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough ball. Add some more flour if it is too sticky. Cut the dough ball in half. Form each half into short logs by rolling back and forth. Place the logs onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into longer logs about 3/4-inch high and 2 inches wide.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until firm to the touch. Let the biscotti logs cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, or until they’re cool enough to touch. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs at an angle into 3/4-inch slices.
Turn the biscotti on their sides so that the cut sides are facing down and place back in the oven for 5 more minutes to dry and crisp up.
Take them out and turn them over to the other side and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely