Nutella-Pistachio Biscotti

 

I'm here to tell you about my absolute biggest weakness ever. Nutella! This delectable chocolate hazelnut cream might as well be my drug of choice. I adore any and everything containing the brown gold, but honestly in a pinch a spoon and the jar will suffice. I'm pretty sure you remember one of my favorite ice creams this year: Nutella Ice Cream. What a treat this was and since it is so easy I have made it several times more since it was featured on my blog. In fact, my sister who is visiting has been begging me to make it so she can try it as well and I might just have to oblige.

I'm sure you are wondering where I'm going with this declaration of addiction love but I do have a point for admitting my weakness in a public forum. See, I was craving something with Nutella a few days ago and knew I had to satisfy the monster or it would only get worse from there. My husband (bless his heart) knows about this obsession all to well and being the good man he is, he went on the internet to find me a recipe I could not only eat, but also blog about. Now, that is what I call love! This is how he came about this biscotti recipe and I was immediately sold, especially after I remembered that biscotti could very well be consumed with a cup of coffee for breakfast (lunch or dinner), just don't tell anyone I encourage this.

The recipe is again super easy (see a trend here), but since the cookies are baked twice (hence the name, which means "twice baked" in Italian) it is a little time consuming. I think this was truly the first time I made a biscotti recipe and it just "worked". In the past I didn't have problems with baking it the first time, but once I had to slice the cookies for the second round of baking, disaster struck and the biscotti always fell apart unless I cut them way thicker than they should have been and then you might as well keep your dentist on speed dial. Well, that all changed with this recipe. Eggs and sugar are whisked in a stand mixer (or you can do the whole recipe by hand with a little muscle power) Nutella is incorporated until the mix is emulsified. Flour, baking powder, and a little salt are added and finally shelled, rough chopped pistachios are thrown into the mix. The dough is pretty tough and sticky at this point but you turn it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat, grease your hands a little and form the dough into two equal logs. They are baked for about 25 minutes, then cooled for 10 before slicing and baking them again. The final step, once the cookies are cooled, is to make a glaze for the biscotti out of Nutella, powdered sugar and boiling water. As you can see by the pictures, I made some drizzled with the glaze, but also left about half of them plain and I almost like them better that way even though my kids are protesting right now as I'm typing this since they liked them glazed better.

This is my favorite new biscotti recipe and I might just have to have a tin filled with those around at all times. Even my chocolate hating husband snuck a few for breakfast and loved them. I also think they look really pretty with the green pistachios poking out here and there and I'm planning to make them around Christmas time again to add to my cookie plates, but with the addition of cranberries or cherries for an even more festive look. So, all my Nutella loving friends and readers out there, I hope you'll give this recipe a try and love it as much as we did!

Nutella-Pistachio Biscotti
(adapted from Christmas-Cookies.com)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Nutella, divided
1 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons boiling water

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk (reserve the extra egg white) and 1 cup granulated sugar until well mixed. Add 3/4 cup Nutella; mix well. Gently stir in flour, salt and baking powder along with the pistachios.

Divide dough in half and form into two 12 x 2-inch logs on prepared baking sheet. Brush logs with remaining egg white and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating baking sheet once after 15 minutes to ensure even baking.

Turn oven down to 300 degrees F. Remove logs from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. While warm, cut logs  width-wise on slight diagonal to form  1/2 inch-wide strips. Lay on sides on baking sheet. Bake cookies for another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet.

When cool, in a small bowl, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup Nutella, powdered sugar and boiling water until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cookies with fork or dip one end of each cookie into glaze. Dry at room temperature for at least 1 hour to set the glaze.