Tuesday, July 3, 2012

TWD #9: Hazelnut Biscotti


We're very particular about biscotti in our house. We both like it, but not if it's super dry. I just think that biting into a cookie shouldn't hurt your mouth. That's why my standard recipe has butter. Fat = softer cookie. So on one hand I was happy to have such an easy recipe for this week's TWD post, but not overly excited, as I knew Jake and I likely wouldn't be eating much of it.


I took this opportunity to play around with the recipe a little bit for a couple of different reasons. First I split the recipe in half and decided to do half hazelnut and half almond, mainly because I just prefer almonds to hazelnuts. A tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder gave the hazelnut biscotti a nice chocolatey flavor but the final product wasn't quite sweet enough for my taste.

The other change I made was to use orange juice instead of liquor in both batches. Here's the thing: ever since we got back from Spain I can't tolerate liquor. Those chupitos really did a number on me, and even the smell of hard liquor turns my stomach, so orange juice seemed like a good substitute.


Oh the almond version...The theory was that I could substitute almond meal for the flour evenly. It did not work. The dough was a bit wet when I put it in the oven, but I've had wet doughs turn into beautiful creations before so I let it play out. Thinking back, those weren't free-form baked goods so I probably should have known better. The result looked and tasted like a sticky version of Dorie's Gluten Free Almond Baby Cakes, which was tasty, but what it wasn't, was biscotti.

So basically I ended up with chocolate hazelnut biscotti and gluten-free almond something that did not resemble biscotti in the least when it came out of the oven. I glazed a few of the chocolate hazelnut pieces with orange sugar, hoping to make them a bit more appealing for me but sadly, to no avail. Looks like I'll be sticking to my favorite biscotti recipe for the forseeable future, but if you prefer your biscotti a bit on the dry side, be sure to check out this super easy recipe on the website of this week's host,s Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina of Baking and Boys.

 

7 comments:

  1. wow.. u really played with the recipe!!! i like the sound of the orange juice... wondering if the orange flavour came through or did it get lost?? because the orange would have gone well with the chocolate!! and good to have you posting again after a month!! :))

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  2. They look great- experimenting is the only way to learn, right? :)

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  3. Oooh!! I'd be down for some Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti - nice sub! :)

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  4. I love how you always try different possibilities with the recipes!!!!! The chocolate ones sure look like something I would enjoy!!!

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  5. Thanks for the link to Dorie's almond cakes - I'd been meaning to try the recipe, but forgot all about it.

    The chocolate hazelnut looks like it turned out perfectly and at least the almond version was good, if not actually biscotti.

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  6. Kudos for experimenting & giving it a shot. Your combinations sound tasty!

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  7. I did not care for these either. I also did a chocolate version hoping for a better outcome. Your chocolate biscotti sure looks good.

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