Monday, May 26, 2008

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Though I would have preferred to spend my weekend toasting in the sun, it seems that the weather never cooperates when needed. I'm sure the sunshine will make a triumphant return when I return to work in a windowless office. Figures. Well, welcome back to all that were away. I hope your journey into catching up on Google Reader posts has been as fun & entertaining as mine. Y'all were cooking away while I was gone!

After spending a rather chilly weekend in Scottsdale, we returned home to some similar cloudy, temperate weather. Isn't the saying, "If life hands you lemons, make lemonade?" Well, since the house is still rather cool & I'm no longer terrified of making biscotti, I decided that if I couldn't frolic in the sun, I'd spend some time baking a relatively healthy yet sinful treat for an after dinner treat.

Unlike other biscotti recipes I have made, this one uses reduced fat peanut butter as the main source of fat - no butter here. Similar to the others, a dry dough is rolled into a log and twice baked to result in a crunchy cookie wonderful with a cup of coffee or tea.

Biscotti Log after first bake:

After a cut & second bake, the biscotti are ready to eat!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Adapted from One Smart Cookie
Yield: about 16 biscotti, depending on desired thickness

2 cups all purpose flour (can substitute 1 cup all purpose, 1 cup whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 /2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup reduced fat peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 - 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg & egg whites, and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Add flour mixture and mini chips. Stir by hand until just combined. The dough will seem very dry and it'll work best to use your hands to combine.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide in half. Shape each into an 8" log. Place the logs 2-3" apart on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Flatten each log into a rectangle about 3" wide.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until firm and cracking on top. Place on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce oven temperature to 275.

6. Place logs on cutting board, and cut each diagonally into 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick slices, using a serrated knife. Place biscotti cut side down onto the cookie sheet and return to oven for 20 minutes. Flip biscotti over and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

12 comments:

My Sweet & Saucy said...

This biscotti sounds great! I love PB & chocolate!

Anonymous said...

I have yet to make biscotti... this looks so good though! Hope the weather starts to cooperate soon.

grace said...

i tend to like my cookies soft, but i'm not one to turn down anything made with chocolate and peanut butter! i'm pretty confident that i could choke one or seven of these down. nicely done! :)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I'm SO glad that you're no longer terrified of making biscotti, because that peanut-butter & chocolate variety looks DIVINE!

Sharon said...

my sweet & saucy - I couldn't agree any more! It's like they were made for each other.

Kristen - You should definitely give it a try! I shouldn't complain too much about the weather...we don't even have a winter! :)

grace - I'm exactly the same way but for some reason I love biscotti anyway. I usually make them pretty hard so I need to eat them dunked in tea or coffee...helps with the portion control! :)

veggiegirl - I'm glad as well though my waistline is probably not!

cakewardrobe said...

Your biscotti looks just perfect! I think I'd be able to eat them the way I eat Twizzlers, bite, chew, push. Yum yum!

Leslie said...

these look yummy...I have never attemped to make biscotti..may I should! Thanks for commenting on my marbled cake...maybe someday we will get the swirl down!

Anonymous said...

This sounds wonderful. I still have fear for biscotti but if you say it's easy....I'll try.

La Bella Cooks said...

Those look fantastic! I just might have to give those a try with the peanut butter...such a good idea.

Aimee said...

Yum! That sounds delicious!

On a side note - how do you stay so skinny with all the yummy cooking you do? :-) Lucky duck!

Sharon said...

cakewardrobe - MMM, I eat twizzlers like a madman too!

leslie - you should definitely try. If you can make such a pretty bundt cake I'm sure you can tackle biscotti

noble pig - it's a dangerous road to go down. Now I'm hooked!

bridgett - I never would have thought to use peanut butter either but its nice to be able to omit butter in a recipe!

aimee - you're too cute. Well, I suppose I'm lucky that I don't crave greasy foods (except fries)-- just desserts so I stick to what I love!

Elle said...

I never thought of pb biscotti! What a great idea. And reduced fat is a bonus!