I love biscotti because it's the ultimate breakfast dessert! And it's pretty much the only breakfast dessert I don't feel guilty about eating. And for a while I was only making my Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti Christmas Biscotti once a year (during the holidays). But then I started to really miss it the rest of the year. So I made an enormous batch and froze most of it, hoping it would last me a very long time.
Turns out the rest of my family was missing it just as much, because that enormous batch didn't last very long. And since I have a need to make it regularly now, I decided I should mix it up a bit and create a new biscotti recipe. And what flavor makes the best dessert, especially breakfast dessert?! Well, chocolate of course! And that is how this Chocolate Marble Biscotti was born. It's not only looks really cool, it's Weight Watchers friendly @ only 2 WW points on the blue plan!
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Before I started making my own biscotti, I didn't get the hype. If you've ever had a stale, break-tooth piece of biscotti from a coffee shop, you'll know what I'm talking about - pure disappointment! But making it yourself is an entirely different thing all together. It's crispy, yet soft and definitely not stale!
💭Biscotti is a cookie
If you didn't already know this, biscotti is simply an Italian cookie, but the difference is that it's baked twice. But there is something magical in the double baking that gives biscotti this delicate texture, unlike no other cookie. In essence, these are chocolate marble cookies, but only better!
I always crave something sweet after breakfast and muffins and loaves are too heavy (especially after eating breakfast). But biscotti is the perfect size, it's not too fattening (this is a ww friendly biscotti) and totally satisfies that sweet tooth. It's also ideal for dunking in coffee.
I guess you could say I've become a little 'entitled' when it comes to biscotti. I feel I need it and deserve it whenever I want it. But I guess that's not such a bad thing because life is short (and they are WW friendly). So now I make big batches and freeze it so I always have it around. And since it freezes so well, there's really no issue, besides it being so popular around here, I just can't seem to make enough!
🥘 Ingredients
This biscotti requires dividing two different doughs, a chocolate dough and a vanilla dough. You start out with a vanilla dough, divide it, mix cocoa into part of it, then mix them together to create a marbled effect. The end result is very cool looking cookie! It is made with very simple pantry ingredients:
- white granulated sugar
- unsalted butter
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- eggs
- vanilla
- flour
- all-purpose flour
- cocoa
🔪 Instructions
If you've never made biscotti before then you need to realize that it's a bit of a time commitment because it requires 2 hours of chilling, 2 bakings and cooling time in between the 2 bakes. But is it ever worth the time!!!
It all starts with one simple biscotti vanilla dough that’s then divided so that half of it can be made into a chocolate biscotti dough. From there it’s just blended to get the marbled effect. I start with the two doughs shaped into rectangles then fold the dough over itself a couple of times, reshape, twist.
🎥 Video
The cook in the video demonstrates a very similar technique to mine: How to marble dough ( Skip to 6:15)
💭 Top tip
You'll want to cut the biscotti on an angle, with a serrated knife. I use a serrated bread knife. I've just found it to be the best way to cut biscotti and the King Arthur Baking Company agrees! They list the technique as one of their 'secrets' of great biscotti.
📖 Variations
You can add dried fruit (cranberries, dried cherries or dried apricots) to this biscotti, but you may want to adjust the sugar. You can also add nuts- sliced almonds or chopped pistachios tend to work the best. If you're counting WW points, you'll need to adjust those as well.
👪 Serving and Storing
This recipe seems like it makes a lot, but trust me, it goes fast! However, you can easily cut the recipe in half or double it, as I did. *Do this by adjusting the blue serving size in my recipe (or just do the math 🙂 ) And the leftovers freeze well. You can keep it in a sealed container for a few days or freeze them in a ziplock freezer bag for up to 3 months.
So, if you're looking for the best chocolate biscotti, you're going to love this recipe!
Now you can enjoy biscotti (almost) daily like I do!
📋 Chocolate Marble Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Heads up: There is a 2 hour chilling time before baking.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds, then add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; beat until combined. .
- Beat in the 3 eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in 2 cups of flour, beating in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining of the 2 cups of flour with a large spoon.
- Divide into 2 portions.
- Add the remaining flour into one portion and mix with hands until combined.
- Add the cocoa into the other portion and knead with hands until well combined. You may need to add a little flour (1 tbsp at a time until it isn't too sticky to work with)
- **Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until dough is easy to handle.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees C. Divide each dough in half, then put the halves together.
- Then flip them on top of each other.
- Start folding and twisting and mixing,
- Keep doing this until the you get the desired marble effect (see video in NOTES)
- Shape each half into a 12 inch log about 1 ½ inches thick.
- Place logs on separate, lightly greased cookie sheets. Flatten each log to a ¾ -1 inch thick loaf. (they will bake up quite a bit, so don't worry if they are very flat)
- Egg Wash: Combine the 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Brush egg mixture over loaves. You won't use all of it (maybe ½ - ⅓)
- Bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool loaves on cookie sheet for 10 -15minutes, then carefully move to cooling rack.
- Cool another 45-50 minutes or until completely cooled
- 2nd Bake:
- At this point, I like to rewash and spray my baking pans.
- When the loaves are cool, preheat oven to 325 degrees F/160 C. Transfer loaves to a cutting board. Cut each loaf diagonally in ½ inch thick slices with a serrated knife. Lay slices, cut sides down on cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned on bottom.
- Turn slices over and bake 5 -10 minutes more or until biscotti are dry and crisp. Transfer to wire rack. Cool.
Lianne
They were so good they didn’t last very long
Terri Gilson
Glad you hear you enjoyed them, Lianne! They don't last long here either 🙂
Vanessa
I love biscotti! This marbled version is fantastic and so beautiful too!
Terri Gilson
Thank you, Vanessa!
Bernice Hill
You know, I used to make biscotti all the time. It makes such a great gift and it really is a luxurious treat and a tasty afternoon pick me up. I need to bake up a batch again soon.
Terri Gilson
I agree, it is a great gift!
amyg
I love the step by step instructions with pictures. These were easy to make and tasted even better.
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Amy - glad you enjoyed them!
nancy
i'm sure these didn't last long! It would go well with my morning coffee!
Terri Gilson
Yes, it's great with coffee!