Sunday, April 27, 2008

Chocolate Drizzled Banana Biscotti

Chocolate Drizzle Banana Biscotti
It's happened again: my house smells like bananas. As much as I love bananas, I absolutely cannot stand the smell of them once ripened. Inconveniently, I also am unable to buy a normal amount of bananas at the grocery and usually end the week with a motley crew of mottled, speckled, and yes, smelly bananas. As a result, I may be posting a few more banana recipes this week. On a side note, hubby has also put me on a one grocery trip a week restriction. As much as I love to plan, I'm not great at planning meals and ingredients for the week so I end up frequenting the grocery store nearly every other day. Each of those "one ingredient" shopping trips ends up being a minimum of $40, so I suppose this restriction is a good thing.

On to the good stuff, today's banana recipe is a Chocolate Drizzled Banana Biscotti. Since I have finally overcome my fear of baking them, a biscotti dunked in a cup of hot tea has become an almost nightly treat for hubby and me. Hmm, how far we've come from our early days of dating when 'biscotti & tea' usually took the form of a couple rounds of beer :)

Like I mentioned, these babies are the perfect accompaniment for a cup of java or tea. The banana taste doesn't come through too strongly -- good when enjoying with a tasty beverage, but not so good when you're in the mood for something banana-y. Next time around, I may experiment with adding more bananas to the mix. As it is, these biscotti are still delicious and satisfy my craving for something sweet and crunchy. Oh, and the chocolate drizzle on top never hurts.

Chocolate Drizzled Banana Biscotti
Adapted from One Smart Cookie
Yield: 2 dozen biscotti (I like mine a little more thick, so I ended up with 1 dozen)

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large banana)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
semi-sweet chocolate chips or white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside
  2. In a large bowl, combine oil, banana, egg and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Add flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. The mixture will seem dry...very dry, but that's what helps give its crunch later on. You'll need to get in there with your hands to mix the dough until it comes together.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide in half and shape each piece into a log (about 8"). Place the logs 2-3" apart on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten each log into a rectangle about 3" wide.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until firm and cracked on top. Transfer logs to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Decrease oven to 275 degrees.
  5. Once cooled, place the logs on a cutting board, and cut each log diagonally into 1/2"-3/4" thick slices with a serrated knife. Place the slices cut side down on the cookie sheet. Return to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes; flip the cookies over and bake another 20 minutes on the other side. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
  6. Place chocolate chips in a ziploc bag. Place chocolate in microwave for 40 seconds. Continue in 10-15 second intervals until chips are melted. Snip off a tiny corner of the ziploc bag and drizzle over biscotti.

13 comments:

RecipeGirl said...

They sound great to me, and it's a very pretty picture too :)

Stephanie said...

Wow! Those look delicious. My fiance LOVES biscotti, so I'll definitely be trying this one!

Sharon said...

recipegirl, thanks! I've been trying to improve my photography skills so I'm glad its paying off :)

stephanie - let me know if you try them. We just finished our last two late last night!

Anonymous said...

I don't think I've ever heard of banana biscotti, what a great concept!

Tip: As your bananas ripen, mush them into 1/2 cup portions and put in ziploc freezer baggies. Take out and thaw and you are ready for any banana recipe that needs a ripe one.

test it comm said...

I tend to buy a lot of bananas as well. My freezer is full of the overripe ones just waiting to be used. The banana biscotti are good idea and look great!

Anonymous said...

I totally know what you mean. I always go for just one onion or just milk, but end up with two or three grocery bags of food!

Megs said...

These look delicious! I, too, have an issue with overripe bananas, but always freeze instead of tossing them. This weekend, I was clearing out the freezer and made a ton of banana nut bread. Thanks for the recipe - now I have an alternative! :)

daphne said...

oh lovely!
That sounds wonderful and homely.. hey, i love the smell of bananas!

imjustatree said...

hello, i have been reading ur blog for the past month or so now and enjoy it very much. i made your biscotti today ( i never heard of banana biscotti) and was a bit discouraged when trying to make the log, it was not firm enough to really roll it into one...however, i kinda got it into shape, and it turned out all right in the end...maybe i was little short on flour....i had exactly what the recipe called for, maybe a bit less...anyhow it tasted good, and now i can say i know how to make biscotti =) i'm going to try your other recipe next time

tigerfish said...

A biscotti can be so simple yet sometimes made as exotic as yours :)

I love biscotti with espresso or black coffee.

Sharon said...

kevin - when we have a lot of frozen bananas, my husband makes delicious banana smoothies!

lori - I have the same problem with Target. I go for trash bags, come out with....too much :)

meghan - mmm, banana nut bread sounds good too!

Daphne - thanks for stopping by!

mothermayi - Yes, I found the dough to be quite dry as well. I had almost given up myself but mentioned in the recipe you need to get in there with your hands to mix it up. I tried with a spoon and that just doesn't work! Glad it turned out well. The Cinnamon biscotti dough isn't quite as dry if you want to try that.

tigerfish - I surprisingly haven't tried them with espresso. I'll have to give that a shot. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I have never made biscotti, but I think I am going to have to now. This sounds so good!

La Bella Cooks said...

I love your blog! These biscotti look fantastic and would make any Italian grandmother proud :) I've always thought biscotti is really relaxing to make. Enjoy working on your blog!