chocolate chips Archives | Marisa's Italian Kitchen

As promised from my last post, affectionately dubbed by friends overkill Affogato, these are my mini chocolate anise biscotti. Studded with dark chocolate chips, with the lovely scent from orange zest and the sweet flavors of both anise extract and ground anise. And, well just because I sometimes do not do things in small measures, I decided to coat them in dark melted chocolate. Get ready to be transported to biscotti heaven my lovelies!

The dark chocolate, orange zest and ground anise are a trifecta of aromatic flavors that work so well together. I just adore this combination in desserts and find they are simply perfect in this biscotti recipe.

Another thing I am really loving lately is testing out different flours in some of my favorite recipes. One in particular is almond flour, which is high in fiber and a great way to reduce carbohydrates in our diet. It’s nutty flavor and light texture makes it a perfect addition to these chocolate anise biscotti. I have also found that the addition of the almond flour rendered the biscotti much more tender. These are not the rock hard biscotti that will test the strength of one’s new dental work…!

I started off by substituting 1/4, 1/3 and finally 1/2 of all purpose flour with the almond flour and found that the 1/3 cup of almond flour worked best in this recipe. Everything I love about these little morsels are combined in these chocolate anise biscotti. Light and airy with a tender bite, also much lower in calories than most cookies.

Ground anise seeds have a licorice like sweet flavor very similar to star anise and interchangeable in recipes however do purchase them in small quantities as they tend to lose flavor after grinding.

They are really delicious on their own…and dunking them in a frothy cappuccino… will surely take you very quickly, up the stairway, to biscotti heaven!

I often bring a pretty jar of biscotti in to work and not only do they disappear very quickly there is always someone requesting the jar itself! Which reminds me, I should go now to purchase more biscotti jars!

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Chocolate Anise Biscotti

Mini tender chocolate chip biscotti bites. With the sweet scent of anise and grated orange zest and dipped in decadent dark chocolate.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: dozen

Author: Marisa

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup almond flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon ground anise seeds
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter melted
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure anise extract
1 tablespoon grated orange zest from 1 very large orange
1 egg white lightly beaten for brushing the logs
1 cup dark chocolate chips melted (for dipping)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
In a large bowl combine the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, ground anise seeds and chocolate chips. Stir and set aside.
In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract, anise extract and the orange zest.
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined and a soft cookie dough has formed.
With a rubber spatula, scrape the cookie dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions
Roll 1 portion at a time into a 10 inch log.
Transfer logs to prepared cookie sheet.
Brush each log with the beaten egg whites. ( A pastry brush is really handy for this)
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, place the cookie sheet on a cooling rack and let it cool for 10 minutes.
Once slightly cooled, transfer the logs one at a time to a cutting board and slice diagonally about 3/4 inch pieces.
Return cookies to the cookie sheet, standing them upright for even baking, and return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Let cookies cool on wire rack.
Once cooled, dip the bottom flat end of biscotti into the melted chocolate.
Scrape excess chocolate with an offset spatula.
Place dipped biscotti upright on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let stand till chocolate is set.

Notes

Melt chocolate in microwave, on high setting, in 30 second intervals.
For easier dipping, thin chocolate with a little vegetable oil and stir well.
Biscotti keep very well in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. However in my family they only last a few days.

With zucchini being a staple backyard vegetable for most people, this sweet loaf would be a wonderful way to use up the summer bounty. It is one of those versatile foods that can be eaten raw, sliced and added to salads, cooked up in a savory dish or simply grate it and bake with it.

We had one of our numerous potlucks last week and this loaf received a lot of love and had many colleagues requesting the recipe. It is so quick and easy to put together with very minimum fuss. No special equipment required, just two bowls to stir in the dry and wet ingredients separately. I used my box grater to shred the zucchini which only took a minute and works wonderfully.

Tip: For the most tender and moist zucchini bread, use a light hand when stirring the batter together and avoid over-mixing.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups coarsely shredded, unpeeled zucchini (2 medium)
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350*F.

Grease two 8×4 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and set aside.

In another bowl whisk together the eggs, zucchini, sugar, oil and vanilla. Add to your flour mixture and stir just until moistened. The batter will be somewhat lumpy and with a couple of white flour flecks and that is o.k. Next, fold in 1 cup of the mini chocolate pieces and the pecans.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in the loaf pans for 10 minutes then remove from the pans and let cool on a wire rack.

Melt the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, until melted (about 1 minute ). Stir and drizzle the melted chocolate over the two loaves.

I find that using mini chocolate chips ensures an even distribution of chocolate through out the loaves. Whereas larger chucks of chocolate tends to settle at the bottom of the loaf which can also result in scorched bottoms.

Tender and moist with small green flecks of zucchini peaking through.

For easier slicing, let cool completely or better yet cover the loaf and store overnight. Drizzle the melted chocolate just before serving. Wonderful for make ahead desserts, breakfast or brunch ideas.

This zucchini bread is truly remarkable. I made it three times this past week which when doing the math is 6 loaves! The first time I used my stand mixer on the “stir mode” but it turned out too dense for my liking. So skip the big mixer and do use a whisk and a spoon. Have to go now, my Elliptical Machine is calling out to me. lol 🙂

Makes two impressive loaves and will yield about 14 slices each.

Adapted from BHG Magazine