Tag Archives: Hot Chocolate

Chocolate Chip Churro Biscotti (Or Chiscotti con Chocolate)

20 Jun

Happy Father’s Day!

Right now, summer is making me think of one thing, and unfortunately, it’s not a vacation.  Two words:  summer school.  Two more words:  major ugh.  Naturally, all my sadness and devastation, instead of being channeled into something productive, and let’s just face it, realistic, turned into wishful thinking about a summer abroad.  And, just to be responsible about the whole thing, I threw in some sort of learning experience…mostly to justify my wild aspirations.  Study Italian…IN ITALY!  Or, study Spanish abroad!  Like, IN SPAIN!

Ya, right.  Since I’m a student, and not, well, made of money, that dream will have to keep me going through months and months of boring old summer school right here, not abroad.  Then, in a completely logical progression of thought, my mind turned to biscotti and churros.  Maybe it was already there.

It’s really not hard to understand why churros are such a popular treat.  The warm, fluffy, cinnamon-sugary Spanish answer to donuts obviously transcends cultures, not to mention the Atlantic Ocean, because I dare you to find anyone in the world who doesn’t love a churro.  Especially dipped in hot chocolate thick enough to stick a fork in.  Ya, they’re doing it all kinds of right over there in Spain.  And biscotti?  If baking a cookie twice is wrong, then you won’t ever find me being right (don’t take that one out of context, please)!  The Italians and French are no slouches when it comes to their pastries, though, so I’m guessing biscotti is in fact, all kinds of right.  In which case, then I’m always right.  Still with me?

Anyway, inspired by the potential fusion of churro cinnamon-y pillows of goodness, and the sweet cracker-crumbly-ness of biscotti, I got to thinking about a delicious hybrid: the result of Spanish Churros meeting up with Italian biscotti…for an afternoon mocha.  Because that’s like…coffee + chocolate.  Get it?  Churros are dipped in hot pudding chocolate, and biscotti is dunked in coffee…So you can see why I had to add chocolate into the mix.  As if the thick hot chocolate churro dip is mixed right in.  And here you have it, chocolate chip cinnamon-sugar churro biscotti.  Affectionately dubbed Chiscotti con Chocolate, since I’m super creative, and everything needs a cute name in my world. 🙂


Chiscotti con Chocolate
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:
* 2 cups flour
* 1 1/2 tsp saigon cinnamon
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
* 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe’s brand)

Topping:
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 tsp saigon cinnamon
* 1 egg yolk, for brushing top of biscotti

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk in a bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, mixing until combined. The dough will be sticky. At this point, you can stir in the chocolate chips if you’d like, or press them into the top of the biscotti before baking, like I did.

Lightly flour a Silpat or parchment paper-lined pan. Flour your hands a bit, and shape the dough into a log on the pan. flatten the log a bit so it takes up most of the length of a regular cookie sheet, and is about 1/2″ thick. If you want slightly smaller biscotti, you can divide the dough in two, and form two flattened logs on the same baking sheet. Just leave enough room between the two, since the dough will spread and grow a little as it bakes. Press chocolate chips into the top of the dough if you did not stir them in, and then brush with the egg white. Sprinkle your sugar-cinnamon mixture generously on top.

Bake 25 minutes. Rotate the pan in the oven, and bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven, but leave the oven on. Let the biscotti become just cool to the touch.

Slice the biscotti log diagonally into 1/2″ wide pieces with a serrated knife. Lay each piece cut-side down on the pan. Bake 10 minutes.
Flip the biscotti slices to the other side, and bake an additional 5-10 minutes, until golden brown.
Savor the yumminess with a hearty cup of hot chocolate, a mocha, or a plain ol’ cup of black coffee…whatever gets you going! Or in my case, whatever makes me temporarily forget I’m not summering abroad.  Probably going to need to make it a double.  Just saying.

The chiscotti will be gone long (long) before my dreams of a summer abroad.  Some day, Europe.  Some day!