Cherry Almond Biscotti Dipped in White Chocolate

​When I came up with the idea to send my dad 70 biscotti for his 70th birthday, I had no intention of baking 7 different kinds of biscotti.  The problem was that once I started my biscotti recipe search, I just couldn't seem to stop myself.  There were so many amazing looking biscotti recipes that I wanted to try, I had a hard time narrowing my search down to seven.

​As you can tell, there is no shortage of biscotti recipes on the internet.  My recipe for white chocolate dipped cherry almond biscotti came from yummycooking.us.  I changed it up and put my own little spin on it, but I still have to give credit to yummycooking for the original recipe.  

This is the first biscotti recipe that I've made with cornmeal in the dough.  I wasn't sure how this was going to change the texture of the cookie but I was curious enough to give it a try. 

White Chocolate Dipped Cherry Almond Biscotti
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until pale in color, about 3 minutes. Add almond extract and milk and whisk to combine.

Add dry ingredients and stir dough together with a spoon or spatula.  Stir in cherries and almonds.

​Cover dough in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Take dough out of refrigerator and split into two equal pieces. Shape each half into a log about 2 1/2 inches wide and 11 inches long.

Bake until golden on the edges, about 30 minutes.

Let logs cool slightly then cut on the bias with a serrated knife to create 1/2 inch cookies.

​Place cookies back on baking sheet and bake until dried and toasted, another 15-20 minutes. Let cool to the touch then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

​The original recipe called for white chocolate chips to be baked into the biscotti and my plan was to leave the white chocolate out altogether but when I tasted the biscotti I thought they needed a little bit of sweetness.  The cornmeal really added a nice corn flavor to the cookie but it really didn't taste much like a biscotti so I decided to dip them in white chocolate.  

​Ohhhh yea.  That is exactly what these little cookies needed.  I'm not normally a white chocolate fan but these biscotti were just  begging for a thin layer of creamy white chocolate to be smeared across the bottom.  

Ciao!

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