Biscotti is a Piece of Cake

Truth to tell there is no mystery to biscotti. It is a snap to make, even on your first try. All it takes is a little bit of time, patience and the right recipe.

Traditional Italian biscotti does not contain butter, it is flavored with anise, and it is break-your-teeth hard because it is meant to be dunked in coffee before biting into it. Our recipe is slightly easier on the palate, both literally and figuratively. It calls for butter, produces a cookie with a nice crunch that stands up to dunking but tastes fine on its own, and is, well, chocolate. Yum.

This dough is extremely easy to work with because it bypasses the one aspect of biscotti making that can cause difficulty, and that is all of the "stuff" that is often mixed in: nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chunks, and so forth. Those tasty (and attractive looking) add-ins make it harder to shape the logs, and even harder to cut the biscotti into nice, even, perfect looking slices. You can, of course, stir in whatever extras you like. Just remember that I warned you. Another thing that makes this recipe an excellent choice for beginners is the fact that the dough is dark because of the chocolate, so no one will be able to tell if you overbaked your biscotti or if all of the pieces aren't the same lovely shade of golden brown.

The only other thing you need to know about biscotti is that it is, by definition, a twice baked cookie, so it does take some time from start to finish. First you form the dough into "logs" and bake them. Because it looks so perfect, and because it stays fresh for many days, homemade biscotti makes for a very nice gift. Package it in little cellophane bags tied with a colorful ribbon, and people will think you spent a fortune on them at a fancy bakery. Makes 36 pieces

2/3 cup (4 ounces) semisweet or dark chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white for glaze