Chocolate Chunk Biscotti - homemade gift idea

My mom loves biscotti.  She loves chocolate even more, so add the two and it was a great homemade gift for her birthday recently.  I paired it with Keurig coffee cups, and a bottle of Torani syrup.  This would make a great gift for the coffee & chocolate lover in your life for Christmas too!

Some of the biscotti were rolled in chopped walnuts, salted almonds and chocolate chunks while others were left plain.  

Chocolate Chunk Biscotti - adapted from The Comfort of Cooking

2 tablespoons light olive oil

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup chocolate chunks

For topping - optional, but delicious!

2 cups chopped dark chocolate

1/4 cup chocolate chunks, chopped

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chopped salted almonds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar. Then add the vanilla and almond extracts, and beat in the egg. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder.  Gradually add wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just blended. Fold in chocolate chunks.

My dough was pretty wet. The original recipe suggested to wet hands with cool water to handle the dough more easily. Since my dough was pretty loose, I just poured it onto a baking sheet, lined with a silicone mat and shaped it the best I could into a 12 x 2 inch log. It spread fairly quickly, so I quickly popped it into the oven with my fingers crossed ;) (I had never made biscotti before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.)

Bake for 35 minutes, or until log is light brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Cut logs diagonally into 3/4 inch-thick slices. (Now it starts to look like traditional biscotti!) Lay slices on parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet. Bake approximately 10 minutes, flipping biscotti halfway through. Cool completely before dipping and adding toppings.

To add your toppings, melt chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and stir until smooth. Dip one end of each biscotti in the chocolate, then sprinkle on chocolate chunks, walnuts and almonds. Allow to cool and harden.  (Can stick in fridge if needed.) Serve at room temperature. Store in a re-sealable bag or container up to 5 days...or package it up and give it away!

This was very easy to make and turned out delicious. My mom loved it! I had some chocolate leftover, so in the picture you can see I made use of it by covering Ritz crackers with it. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I have a thing for leftover chocolate and Ritz crackers!  Mom didn't get those....in fact, no one else knows they even existed. I took care of those. Quickly.

And y'all were supposed to help me decide on a Christmas card! No help from anyone? What's up with that?!  Guess I will have to make a decision all by myself :P

I'm linking up over at:  Naptime Creations, Mandy's Recipe Box, It's a Blog Party, Weiner Tales, 33 Shades of Green, Blessed with Grace,  Our Delightful Home, Crazy for Crust, Inside BruCrew Life,  ZentMrs, & The Mr.