The Vandervort Family Blog: Baking Biscotti

If you know us well, you know that our last name should be changed to the Coffee-vorts. Roger & I both love coffee. Roger has taken to it as a hobby, while I enjoy being one of his guinea pigs. One of our favorite parts of the coffeeverse is biscotti. We used to buy it, but after a few months we realized that we just couldn't afford the $1.75/piece to support our habit. So we turned to making our own. We've tried several recipes and have ultimately (especially after this morning...I'll get to that) settled on one recipe from Joy Of Baking. Coincidentally, it is the very first recipe I tried and it is so far the best one. (Closest to "specialty store" biscotti, in our opinion.)

This recipe is great exactly as it is written. I made it that way the first time I made biscotti way back in 2008. ;-) This recipe seems to be fully customizable. We've used it as a starting point to create double chocolate, espresso chocolate, hazelnut, pecan, pumpkin, etc. We really do need to start writing down the variations. We are so bad about not writing down our own creations when it comes to baking/cooking.

Anyway, on with it, right? Today we (read: Susan) were baking biscotti to give as Christmas gifts. I decided to try a new recipe (why?? WHY??) and it sounded like it was going to be good. The comments on that recipe were all positive. I thought it was going to be a winner. It was easy to mix up. That was about the only think I liked about the recipe. I hate to say it, but compared to our tried-and-true recipe, this one was a bomb. It took twice as long as the directions stated to bake. It didn't rise at all. It didn't harden up the way I'd expect biscotti to... and the Olive Oil in it is overpowering. I tried to "cover" the olive oil taste with a chocolate drizzle, but ... nope. It just doesn't float our boat. The Joy of Baking (J-O-B) biscotti needs nothing added. No drizzle, no dipped end, no sprinkles. It is just that good.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here's the comparison. (I also made the J-O-B biscotti today. **without the almonds, just chocolate chips)

Can you smell the olive oil from all the way over there?

Some might say, "well, you probably made a mistake with the recipe." and to that I respond, "no, dear ones, I did not. I used utmost care to assure that I followed the recipe exactly as written. I never mess around with a recipe the first time I make something, and this was no exception."

Oh and one more thing... we use mini semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of regular size. No particular reason except that one day we didn't have anything but mini so we used them, and liked it better.