I recently brought this cookie platter to a dinner party.  From left to right, the cookies are vanilla chocolate chip biscotti, chocolate macadamia nut biscotti, pumpkin pecan cookies with powdered sugar, checkerboards and chocolate drizzled pumpkin pecan cookies.  The cookie platter was a big hit, but hands down, the favorite cookie was the chocolate macadamia nut biscotti.  Herewith, my recipe for chocolate macadamia nut biscotti.  If you have any questions or comments about the recipe or would like my recipes for the other cookies, email me at puppy513@aol.com.  Happy Holidays!

Ingredients

Chocolate Mixture

  • 7 tablespoons cocoa
  • 7 tablespoons canola oil*
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

Biscotti Batter

  • 3 ½ cups sifted flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 ½  tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 ½  tablespoons pineapple juice**
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups chocolate chips
  • 2 cups macadamia nuts, roughly chopped and toasted***

Before you begin: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two insulated cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Make the chocolate mixture: Place the cocoa, canola oil and instant espresso powder in a small bowl and whisk together well.

Place the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.  Whisk until all ingredients are well combined.

In the large bowl of a mixer at medium speed, beat the sugar and canola oil for 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the orange juice, pineapple juice and vanilla extract and beat for 2 more minutes.

At low speed, add the flour/spice mixture in 2 or 3 additions, beating only until all ingredients are mixed together and no dry ingredients are visible in the batter.

Pour the liquid chocolate mixture into the batter and fold or mix in by hand

until the chocolate is evenly distributed in the batter.  Fold in the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

Divide the batter into 4 portions (or 3 portions for larger biscotti).

Drop large spoonfuls of the batter onto the cookie sheets roughly forming logs about 3 to 4 inches in width and 8 to 10 inches in length. They don’t have to be perfect looking—it’s ok for them to roughly resemble a log or oval shape.  You will be cutting the logs into ½ inch slices, so the actual shape of the logs is not important.   You will have two logs per cookie sheet.

Bake the logs at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes.  The tops should look dry.  Remove them from the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees, and allow the logs to cool for about 10 minutes.  Place each log on a cutting board and cut into ½ inch slices.  Place the slices on the cookie sheets, and put the cookie sheets back in the oven for 20 minutes, making sure to flip the slices midway through the cooking time—10 minutes per side.  Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks.

Makes 3 to 4 dozen biscotti.

Notes

* Okay to use any flavorless oil such as corn or safflower oil.

** Okay to use all orange juice or all pineapple juice, if you don’t have both available.  I sometimes substitute Kahlua liqueur for the juices.

*** To toast macadamia nuts: Place in a preheated 350 oven for 5 to 8 minutes, checking frequently to make sure they are not burning.  Toasting is optional, but provides a crisp, crunchy and fragrant quality to the nuts.

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