Chocolate Blood Orange Biscotti with Spelt

Biscotti is a twice baked cookie. Like an Italian tea biscuit, they are the perfect accompaniment to your favorite warm beverage. My family typically makes biscotti during the holiday season, but I love making them year round in a variety of flavors. Some of my favorite flavors are pumpkin and chocolate-pistachio. Usually the kind I make is determined by what I already have hanging around in my pantry. Because you can make these with endless combos of dried fruit, nuts, and other confections, biscotti are a great impulse baking item. I don’t plan ahead to make biscotti, I just wake up and decide to do it. Feel free to play around with the recipe and find your own favorite flavors! I would have added chopped almonds to these, but i forgot about them until I was in the middle of the first bake.

This recipe makes around 24 biscotti.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Spelt Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 3/4 cup Agave Nectar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Zest of one Blood Orange
• Juice of one Blood Orange
• 1 ounce + a splash of Anise Liquor(Anisette, Galliano, Ouzo, Sambuca)
• 6 ounces 70% or more Dark Chocolate
• 1 tbs Earth Balance Buttery Spread(or Butter)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine the dry ingredients(1st four ingredients) in a bowl and whisk together to combine.

3. In a large bowl, combine the next four ingredients and 1 ounce of Anise Liquor. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and work together until well combined. The dough should be a little dry, not as sticky as cookie dough. If you are having a hard time getting the dough to come together you can add some water…or if you are like me, extra booze.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and form two logs with the dough like so:

5. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes.

6. Slice logs diagonally into 10-12 pieces each. Arrange slices on their side like so:

7. Bake for an additional 10 minutes and return biscotti to cooling racks. They will still be a bit soft, but will continue to harden as they cool.

8. While biscotti cool, chop chocolate into small pieces, combine chocolate with Earth Balance and a splash of Anise Liquor over a double boiler and whisk until melted.

9. Dip tops of biscotti into chocolate and stand them upright on cooling rack and allow chocolate to harden. This is a slow and agonizing process. While I am typing this I am still waiting for my chocolate to harden. Be patient, its worth the wait!

10. Enjoy with your favorite warm beverage or package them up to share with friends:)

Have a great weekend!