Birthday Biscotti

When we started talking about what birthday treats Dylan wanted to bring to school for his class celebration, he didn't miss a beat: Crème brûlée! 

No. Sorry, darling. I am not making 25 individual crème brûlée.

Can you just make one big one, Mommy?

Picturing 25 germ-laden spoons digging into a single pan sent shudders up my spine. No!

His second choice: biscotti and hot chocolate. That I was willing to do. Here we go...

Dylan's Birthday Biscotti

Funny story, I had way too much going on last night while I was trying to make the biscotti. We were wrapping presents; Dylan was making cookies for his Secret Santa recipient. I completely missed an ingredient, or two, on the original batch of biscotti I tried to make. Kitchen fail. You can salvage savory flops...usually. Sweet flops just need to go in the trash! I went back to my mixing bowl, adapting a tried and true recipe.

2 C white whole wheat flour

2 T ground cashews

1 t baking powder

2/3 C extra virgin olive oil

1 C coconut sugar

3 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 T instant espresso

2 eggs

dash of ground cinnamon

dash of ground cardamom

dash of ground nutmeg

1/2 C chopped dark chocolate

1/2 C cashew bits

1/2 C sliced almonds

In a large bowl, mix together olive oil, coconut sugar, and eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, ground cashews, baking powder, cocoa powder, instant espresso, and spices; mix into egg mixture to form a stiff dough. Mix in chocolate pieces and nuts.

Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a roll the length of the cookie sheet. Place rolls on cookie sheet, and pat down to flatten the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 250.When cool enough to touch, cut into 1-inch thick diagonal slices. Place sliced cantucci on cookie sheet, and bake an additional 15 minutes on each side, or until toasted and crispy.