Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Biscotti

I am so excited this week as my sister and niece have come over for a holiday. She has already given me a list of things she wants me to make and I have a head start on her. On Friday I made these fantastic biscotti which I found on Joy of Baking. After making the Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti, I knew that these would be great too because I love hazelnuts (Is there a nut I don't love?). And sure enough they are fantastic. I had to hide a few in the cupboard so that we don't finish all of them in a day!

I made one change to the original recipe and that was to use a dark chocolate with orange flavoring. I used a Lindt Intense Orange Bar in the biscotti and the citrus pairs beautifully with the dark chocolate. The chocolate bar is pulsed with the brown sugar into a powder so you will not get any chunks of chocolate but a complete flavor all over. If you cannot find a flavored bar I recommend adding a tablespoon of orange zest to the recipe. The final biscotti is not sweet and so I added a drizzle of melted white and milk chocolate which somehow completed the overall flavor of it.

Recipe Source - Adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients - Makes approx 30 Biscotti

1 Cup (150 Grams) Hazelnuts

4 Ounces (120 Grams) Orange Flavoured Dark Chocolate* (Coarsely Chopped)

1 Cup (210 Grams) Tightly Packed Light Brown sugar

1 3/4 Cups (230 Grams) All-purpose Flour

1/3 Cup (30 Grams) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 Tbsp (4 grams) Instant Espresso Powder

1Tsp (5 grams) Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Salt

3 Large Eggs

1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

* - If you cannot find flavored chocolate use regular dark chocolate (60 - 70%) and add 2 Tbsp Fresh Orange Zest. Pulse with the sugar and chocolate.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). To toast the hazelnuts, spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned and the skins begin to blister and peel. Remove from oven and place the nuts in a clean dish towel. Roll up the towel and let the nuts 'steam' for 5 minutes and then briskly rub the towel (with nuts inside) to remove the skins from the nuts. Cool and then chop coarsely.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degree F (150 degrees C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. In a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, place the coarsely chopped chocolate and brown sugar and process until the chocolate is very fine.

4. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda and salt.

5. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and vanilla extract until combined (about 30 seconds). Add the chocolate/sugar mixture and the flour mixture and beat until a stiff dough forms (I didn't get a stiff dough and my mixture was very sticky), adding the hazelnuts about half way through mixing.

6. With floured hands (Use a lot of flour on your hands to avoid it sticking to your hands) divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a log about 10 inches (25 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet (I directly rolled mine on the baking sheet to avoid any mess while transferring), spacing about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart. Bake until almost firm to the touch, about 35 - 40 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from the oven, place on wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.

7. Using a long spatula transfer the logs to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife cut the dough into slices 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick on the diagonal. Arrange the slices cut-side down on a wire rack for the oven. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until crisp and dry. (If you want a softer biscotti, reduce the baking time). Remove from oven and let cool before drizzling with chocolate.

To make the White and Milk Chocolate Drizzles, Melt the chocolates separately in the microwave in 15 second intervals or on a double boiler. Place in a piping bag and decorate the completely cooled biscotti.

Happy Eating!!