Nutella and Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Here's the next installment of the newly-formed Baking Club. Last month, we made mango pound cake and this time we decided to try something none of us had baked before, Biscotti. I was a bit apprehensive. I've tasted bad biscotti - too dense or too eggy. I was hoping mine would turn out well the first time and then I could be confident to try other recipes. Well, this turned out just perfect.

I followed the recipe from Baking Bites, making a few adjustments along the way. All the recipes on that blog are just amazing and fail-safe.

Biscotti are easy to make. And if I'm saying that, let me tell you, its really very easy. You mix all the dough ingredients together, shape into a 1/2" thick rectangle and bake. Remove the baked log, cut into strips, turn the strips over onto their side and bake again. Now remove and turn the strips over onto their other side and bake again. There is not much more to it. Absolutely perfect biscotti.

Biscotti

(recipe adapted from Baking Bites)

I got about 14 biscotti, but maybe I should've cut them thinner?

1 1/8 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

3 Eggs

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Nutella

1/4 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 180 deg C.

Sieve all the dry ingredients together (that is, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder).

In a separate bowl, whip the eggs in an electric blender until frothy. Add the sugar and beat again. And the nutella and beat. Now fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Since I'd used the same number of eggs, but halved the other ingredients, my batter was runny, and I couldn't shape it. So I poured the batter into a small rectangular baking pan and hoped for the best.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and turn the oven down to 150 deg C. I took out what resembled a crumbly cake. Using a serrated knife, I cut the cake into long strips. Turn the strips over onto their side, arrange on the baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Turn the biscotti onto the other side and bake for a further 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. You could also dip the biscotti into melted chocolate to get a triple chocolate effect. Or you could add nuts, orange peel... the possibilities are endless with biscotti. I cant wait to try other variations. But I know that I'll never need another recipe. This one was perfect!

Check out the biscotti from my fellow Baking Clubbers: Arundati, Arundhati, Nandita and Aparna.

Nutella Ice Cream

Could there be anything better? I doubt I have to sell this one to you - if you like Nutella and ice cream, well, there isn't much else to say, is there?


Nutella is God's way of letting you know there is a heaven! It's a chocolate hazelnut spread (for breads, or just about anything else) that is truly divine. Go, run, to the store and buy some if you haven't tried it.

When I saw the recipe on Sugarlaws, I knew I absolutely had to make it. I'm a Nutella-holic.


Nutella Ice Cream with Roasted Almonds
(inspired from Sugarlaws' Nutella Ice Cream)

1/3 cup Nutella
1/2 cup Cream (I used regular cream, but use heavy cream if you have it)
1/3 cup Sugar
1 cup Milk
1 tbsp Vodka (alcohol keeps ice cream soft. You could leave it out if you want)
1/2 cup Toasted and Slivered Almonds

Mix together all the ingredients except for the almonds. Beat well. Pour into a plastic container (use a shallow container if making by hand). Add the almonds and mix to combine. Close and put it in the freezer. If you have an ice cream machine, follow the instructions.

If not, remove the container every 1 1/2 - 2 hours and churn the ice cream completely. Make sure you get all the frozen parts on the sides of the container. Initially a hand blender would work very well. Repeat the churning about 3-4 times, until ice cream is completely set.

Enjoy. This is truly one of the best ice creams I've ever had.


Similar posts on this blog: Vanilla Ice Cream, Nutella Brownies.

Nutella Brownies

There's absolutely nothing to say about these brownies except that they are in one word Un-Friggin-Believable! I am on a cookie/ brownie cooking spree of my bookmarks.

I have also been keeping my daughter occupied during her holidays. And today I made these with my nephew - he's so enthusiastic and excited about cooking - so let me just say they tasted even better!

I made a few alterations to the original recipe. My nephew doesn't like peanut butter, so we substituted 1/2 cup Nutella for the peanut butter - so now we have 1 cup instead of 1/2 cup nutella. And the chocolate chips were added on as a topping, but we mixed it right into the
batter.


Nutella Brownies
(recipe from Noble Pig, and originally from Culinary in the Country)

1 cup Butter
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 large Eggs
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Cocoa
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Nutella
1/4 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

On a low heat, melt the butter and add in the sugar and vanilla while stirring to combine. Remove from heat and cool completely. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well to combine after each addition.

Add the flour mixture, a bit at a time, to the egg mixture until completely mixed in.

Heat the nutella in the microwave for a little bit until you get it to a runny consistency. Add the nutella to the batter and mix well. Now add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.

Pour into a square baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting. We couldn't wait and that was a mistake. Parts of it were still warm and so a little like melted chocolate in the center (sigh - can't go wrong with some molten chocolate, can you?!). It did eventually all firm up. And the kids walloped it with some strawberry ice cream (I would've chosen vanilla, but hey, it's all for the kids!).

As I said before Un-Friggin-Believable. Truly Death By Chocolate!! And what a good way to go!