Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti

Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti is prepared with deep, rich cocoa, espresso powder, coffee liqueur, chocolate espresso beans, and roasted hazelnuts. This is one very serious biscotti recipe!

We’ve all had coffee flavoured chocolate before, but have you had chocolate flavoured with coffee? Yes, there is a difference! When you flavour chocolate with coffee, you don’t taste the coffee. The coffee is meant to enhance the flavour of the chocolate itself. That rule does not apply to Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti!

Sure, you get a lot of chocolate flavour. The cocoa powder pretty much guarantees that much! But, you surely get a lot of coffee flavour too. If you don’t care for strong coffee flavour, this biscotti is most certainly not for you!

CAN SO MUCH COFFEE BE TOO MUCH COFFEE?

For some people, there’s such as thing as too much coffee. I have yet to feel that way! Because of the ground espresso powder, the coffee liquer, and the espress beans, you might thing there’s enough coffee flavour in here.

I would agree, but I wanted more! I added coffee extract rather than vanilla extract to my recipe. Coffee extract is not easy to find in stores. Although, on many occasions, I have found it at Walmart and Target. I always use the Watkins brand, because it’s the easiest one to find. You can buy it online too, if you can’t find it in stores.

If you don’t have it or if you want to use something else, you can most certainly go right ahead and use vanilla extract. Vanilla, chocolate, and coffee all work very well together. If I did not use coffee extract, I would have most likely used a flavoured extract like coconut (because I freaking love it!) or an orange extract. Because I simply love the combination of chocolate and orange.

TOASTED HAZELNUTS

To be perfectly honest, it’s hard to find toasted hazelnuts, which are sometimes called filberts. It’s probably a good thing too, because you get better flavour when you toast them yourself. If you’ve never toasted nuts before, I highly recommend you do it.

Buy whole hazelnuts. They are easier to toast than bits and pieces. And, when you buy nuts that are whole, you’re getting the best of the best. I don’t trust buying the already chopped nuts, because I have this belief that the bad parts are cut off and the good bits are packed for retail. I feel the same way about canned tomatoes. Always buy whole canned tomatoes and chop them yourself!

Add the hazelnuts to a stainless steel skillet. Over medium heat, constantly stir the nuts around the pan until you can smell that intense nuttiness. The skins will start to darken and fall off too. Don’t ever leave the unattended! Your toasted nuts will turn to burnt nuts very quickly!

Once done, remove them from the hot skillet and transfer them to a wide, shallow, glass bowl. This will stop them from toasting and quickly cool them down.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Previously, I mentioned using vanilla extract instead of coffee extract. Likewise, you can use instant coffee powder rather than ground espresso powder. And, chocolate covered espresso beans can be costly, depending on where you go to get them. To be perfectly honest, the snack corner at Starbucks has them and they are decently priced.

I also included a little bit of coffee liqueur, but you can easily substitute that as well. Use an equal amount of hazelnut liqueur or even a very strong perked coffee.

STORING AND FREEZING

Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti will last in the freezer for three months. Be sure you have a good container with a tight seal. Whenever I’m freezing cookies, I always double up on the seal action. Before I place the lid on, I always drape a sheet of plastic wrap on top. Then I push the lid on. I just feel that the lid fits more tightly. Any little thing I can do to keep the frost out, I’m going to do it! I like to use tins like this.

Like I always say, if you freeze any baked goods, remove only the amount you want when you decide to thaw them. Fetch the container from the freezer and remove only what you need. Put the lid back on and get the container back in the fridge.

To properly thaw baked goods, place them on a plate or a wire cooling rack. Don’t pile them. Spread them out and give them some space. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. They will taste fresh and perfect every single time!

CONCLUSION:

Like I said at the beginning, I’ll be posting 12 biscotti recipes in this series on back-to-back days. If you can’t wait, you can certainly refer back to a series from previous years. Just click on the collection photos below. Cheers!