Biscotti Madness!

Every year during the holidays, I make tons of cookies to give as gifts. I only keep a few if I plan on entertaining. This year I decided to make ONLY biscotti. Many types of biscotti. The main reason, they require very little fat in them. They also don't require you to bake sheets after sheet after sheet of only 12 cookies. One sheet two logs. Easy!

I will give you two recipes for the next few days and on the last day show you how I packaged them as gifts!

Let's get started.....

Chocolate Cappuccino Biscotti
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cappuccino chips (World Market)
Instant Espresso Powder

Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter and flour a large baking sheet.
In a bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until combined well. Stir in flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Fold in/mush in with hands the chocolate chips.
On prepared baking sheet with floured hands form dough into two slightly flattened logs, each 12 inches long and 2 inches wide, and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Bake logs 35 minutes, or until slightly firm to the touch. Cool biscotti on baking sheet 5 minutes.
On a cutting board cut biscotti diagonally into 3/4-inch slices. Arrange biscotti, cut sides down, on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip over the biscotti pieces and cook again for 10 minutes, until crispy. Cool biscotti on a rack.
Melt cappuccino chips in a ziploc bag for 30 second intervals until melted. Snip corner and squeeze a thick 'squiggle' on the biscotti. While squiggle is still wet, sprinkle espresso powder.

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti
adapted from Myrecipes.com

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup canned, mashed pumpkin
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Combine pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla, stirring well with a wire whisk. Slowly add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Mixture will be very crumbly; it will gradually become moist after stirring.)

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add walnuts. Cook, stirring constantly, until nuts are browned. Remove from heat, and cool completely. Knead or gently stir cooled nuts into dough.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 portions. Lightly flour hands, and shape each portion into a 3" x 15" log. Place logs 2" apart on cookie sheets lined with a silpat or parchment.

Bake at 350° for 23 minutes; cool logs 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300°.

Cut each log crosswise into 1/2" slices, using a serrated knife. Place slices on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 300° for 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Crunchalicious!