Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

Emptying a pantry is a humbling experience.  First of all, does anyone really need to keep 6 different kinds of rice on hand? 🤣🍚Secondly, I thought was doing a fairly good job of keeping my pantry organized and getting rid of anything that was past its expiration date. 😬 Well, clearly I hadn't looked through my pudding stash or collection of dried figs a while.  😳 Apparently, dried fruit has an expiration date too.  🤷🏻‍♀️

​Needless to say, a complete pantry clean out was long overdue.  I've spent most of the week going through my pantry staples and reorganizing them into pretty new containers with shiny new labels.  I took every single food item in the house and emptied it into the dining room. And let's just say, things got worse before they got better. 😅

Believe it or not - this is the "after" picture.  This is what my dining room table looks like now that I've got everything reorganized and ready to to load into the new pantry.  I realize that it looks like total chaos but I can assure you - it all makes sense to me.  But for some reason, my family doesn't enjoy the find the peanut butter game at 6:00 am while trying to pack lunch.🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

It was certainly eye opening to see the contents of my pantry laid out in front of me.  Taking inventory made me aware of how much stuff I really do store.  I stock 8 different kinds of chocolate chips, 7 types of flour, 10 different kinds of dried fruits and enough coconut to make macaroons for a small village.  With the exception of rice (lol) I don't feel like I stored anything in excess.  I almost hate to admit it but I use all 8 types of chocolate chips on a fairly regular basis.  😳 #bakerlife 🍪

My pantry is well stocked partly because of the demands of my catering gig but if I'm being honest - I also love having so many snacks at my fingertips.  😅 I have just about every type of nut that you can imagine.  Salted, unsalted, whole, chopped, sliced, and slivered.  I have them all.  The good thing is that when I want to make something with nuts - I've got almost every variety available in my pantry stash.  

​The inspiration for this Chocolate Cherry Biscotti came from a Milk Street magazine.  The original recipe actually called for these crunchy cookies to be dipped in dark chocolate.  In my world - The less is more concept doesn't apply to chocolate but even a die hard chocolate lover like myself thought it might be overdoing to to dip these already rich and decadent cookies in more chocolate.  But by all means - if you feel like this biscotti needs an extra boost of chocolate - go for it.  

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti
3/4 cup whole almonds
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup dried cherries

Toast almonds on a baking sheet for 6 minutes at 375. Let cool.

Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. 

Combine 1/2 of chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup flour mixture in food processor.  Pulse until finely ground.

Whisk together eggs, vanilla and almond extract.   

Add egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber scraper. 

Add remaining chopped chocolate, almonds, pistachios and cherries.

Divide dough in half.

Roll each into a 14" log and place on silpat lined baking sheet. 

Bake 45-50 minutes at 300.  Let cool 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 275. Slices loaves into 1/2" slices.  Arrange on baking sheets.  

Bake 20 minutes at 275.

Thanks mom and dad for letting me take over your kitchen for a few days and for letting my put my biscotti in your flower basket to take pictures.  😉
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Ciao!

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