One of my favorite gifts this Christmas, perhaps of all time, is my precious Keurig...
Beat still my heart... now, Im not even a huge coffee lover. Don't get me wrong, I almost always swing by Starbucks when I get a chance. Normally I only get an iced tea, but every now and then I splurge a bit and get a grande something or rather. Im not cheap, but I just find something wrong with paying $5 for a cup of coffee, call me crazy, but I can go to Michael's or Joanne's and spend that money much better :)
Anyways, back to the Keurig. Next to my KitchenAid stand mixer, it has to be the greatest "appliance" in my kitchen. For anyone that isn't familiar with the machine... its a single cup maker and instead of messing with grounds and pots of coffee that go to waste, you use these cute little KCUPS.
You just pop one of them in the machine, it pokes a hole in the bottom and top, you choose your size or if you even want iced... so yummy, and then it brews it in a few seconds. Genius I tell you! There are a TON of different flavors of not only coffee, but teas and hot chocolates well. Joe bought mine from Costco and it actually even came with 72 KCUPS! Such a great deal IMO. Once I get the order I placed for more KCUPS from an online vendor, I have to be sure to review my favorites :) I will say, though, that since Im not a big coffee person (or at least I wasn't until now), I ALWAYS add some extra stuff to my brews. #1 2 scoops of:
and then my super duper amazingly spectacular ingredient and all time favorite creamer:
OMG, seriously, the BEST flavor... alright, so thats my secret recipe for an awesome cup of coffee :)
Enough about my new toy, for now anyways! With all of this coffee and tea drinking going on now while planted in front of the computer editing and such, my mouth and stomach had been feeling a little empty just drinking. So I figured I would go ahead and make a little snack for myself, something that didn't require me heating anything up or putting anything in a toater, microwave, etc. Just a little nibble! What could be better for that AND coffee than biscotti right? So onto one of my favorite kinds... I had tried a few different recipes and wasn't completely happy with the results, so adapted them a bit.Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp's unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Nutella (hazelnut/chocolate spread)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
1. Sift dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together in a small bowl
2. crack eggs and beat until smooth
3. Add sugar and beat for a couple of minutes until sugar has almost dissolved
4. measure out Nutella and add to the egg and sugar mixture. Mix until well combined.
5. Add dry ingredients to mixture. Do this in 3 batches, making sure to mix until JUST combined before adding the next batch.
Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition :)
6. Stir in chocolate chips and hazelnuts until combined
7. Roll out dough onto a LIGHTLY floured surface
8. Divide dough into 2 fairly equal disks and place them on the baking sheet with a couple of inches between them. Begin rolling the dough out to 1/2" thickness. Try to get them as close to rectangle shape as you can...
9. Place in oven, on middle rack, and bake for approximately 20-24 minutes. Take them OUT of the oven and reduce oven to 300 degrees.
10. Carefully cut disks into 1/2" to 1/3" pieces.
11. Arrange biscotti on baking sheet with some space in between each one and put BACK in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes.
No need to bake those end pieces either! Since those are now the most baked, dry pieces, you can eat those while the rest finish off in the oven :)
12. Now I don't know how pertinent this step is, BUT I do it, just because :) I like to turn my biscotti over every 5 minutes or so, just to make sure that I really dry them out. I do this a total of 2 times, baking for a few minutes on each of their sides. If you don't want to do this step, just bake for a total of 13 minutes!
13. Take the biscotti out of the oven and leave them on the baking sheet or you can transfer them to a wire rack to cool and dry a bit more if you feel so inclined. I don't like adding to my dirty dishes, so I leave em on the pan :)
Once they are completely cool, nice and dried out, put them in an airtight container... voila! All done and super easy. Now that I think of it, the recipe isn't that bad for ya either! No butter or oil? Not bad huh?
Now enjoy them with YOUR favorite cup of coffee, I know I am!!!
Happy New Years everyone... here is to fabulously GREAT year. I can just feel it on my bones!
yummy! Can't wait to try this. Thanks for the step by step instructions. It looks completely easy, even for me! Isn't the Keurig great too?
Posted by: Jasmin | January 06, 2010 at 09:52 AM