Chocolate-Coconut Biscotti

If you've never tried biscotti before, now is a great time to begin. This is one of our favorite biscotti recipes. We usually don't dip them in chocolate--the cookies are great just like they are. Bart and Joshua like to dip their biscotti in milk or cocoa, but Alyssa and I enjoy the crunch of them dry. This recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion.

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
2/3 cup (4 3/4 ounces) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (3 ½ ounces, packed) shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips or chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 ¾ cups (10 ½ ounces) semisweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate chunks, melted, for dipping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large (about 18" x 13") baking sheet.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and baking powder until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs; the batter may look slightly curdled. At low speed of your mixer, add the flour, coconut, and 1 cup chocolate chips, stirring until smooth; the dough will be sticky.

Plop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Shape it into a log that’s about 14" long x 2 ½" wide x ¾" thick. Straighten the log, and smooth its top and sides; a wet spatula, wet bowl scraper, or wet hands works well here. Note: For extra-long, bistro-style biscotti, pat the dough into a lightly greased 12" x 5 1/2" biscotti pan.

Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool on the pan anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes; just work it into the schedule of whatever else you’re doing in the kitchen. Using a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water, lightly but thoroughly spritz the log, making sure to cover the sides as well as the top. Softening the crust just this little bit will make slicing the biscotti much easier.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Wait another 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut the log crosswise into 1⁄2" to 3⁄4" slices. Or cut the biscotti on the diagonal—for fewer, longer biscotti. As you’re slicing, be sure to cut straight up and down, perpendicular to the pan; if you cut unevenly, biscotti may be thicker at the top than the bottom, and they’ll topple over during their second bake.

Set the biscotti on edge (standing upright) on the prepared baking sheet. Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for about 25 minutes, till they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden. They’ll still feel a tiny bit moist in the very center, if you break off a piece; but they’ll continue to dry out as they cool. Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Dip half of each finished, cooled biscotto (or the front or back) in the melted chocolate, if desired. Place the dipped biscotti on a rack set over a piece of parchment or plastic wrap (to catch drips), and allow the chocolate to set before serving.

Yield: 3 dozen 3 1⁄2" biscotti, when cut crosswise. Or about 1 1/2 dozen biscotti cut on the diagonal; the exact yield will depend upon just how much of a slant you cut them on.