Coffee Chocolate Chips Biscotti

Fiddling in the kitchen (for exception of doing dishes! 'gaargh..) has always been some sort of therapeutic thing for me. Oh, how much I just love chopping, slicing, mincing and so on. The most expensive item I have in my kitchen is well..my knife (knives). Not pots and pans, as what I assume most people would think. And absolutely not gadgets; not much of gadget person and above all, if I can fit ONE gadget in my tiny kitchen, it'd be KitchenAid mixer. Anyhoo, in many occasion when I have to cook at somebody else' kitchen, I don't mind using their pots/pans/chopping block/spatula/colander and what not, but I will always always bring my knife. My choice of weapon, yeah? As long as I come armed with my cleaver. I hope this obsession does not at all imply a seriously 'distubed' personality hidden somewhere in me. :)

So this morning, halfway through some paperwork, I just needed to get away for few minutes. The leisure of having a job that entitles me to work anywhere, which today happens to be at home, is that I could sneak in to my therapy session!!! And where did the biscotti idea come from? The back of calendar from Sobey's (grocery store). I don't even shop there that much, but the neighborhood stores I frequent don't give away free calendar, ya know? :)

I was looking up some dates, then absent mindedly read this very recipe and 45 minutes later, a batch of biscotti. When thinking of biscotti, I always relate it to almond; don't have any almonds on hand, however, I have some amaretti cookies, so I crushed them up and added it to the mixture. It smells heavenly!

What:
- 2 3/4 all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup instant coffee (Sobey's puts Nescafe Rich Instant Coffee, but I use our personal favorite, Sumatra Coffee)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 1/3 cup sugar (I use 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup crushed amaretti cookies)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

How:
- Whisk together flour, baking powder and cinnamon.
- Whisk together coffee with 2 tbsp hot water until dissolved. Whisk in butter, sugar, then eggs until combined.
- Stir coffee mixture to flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Halve dough. With spatula, shape one half into a log, measuring 12" long and 3" wide. Do the same with second log. Place logs 3 inches apart.
- Bake in center of 350°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes until just firm. Let cool on pan on rack for 10 minutes.
- Transfer to cutting board. With serrated knife, cut into 1/2" thick slices. Stand slices upright spaced apart on 2 baking sheets. Bake in 325°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until sides are no longer springy to the touch. Let cool on pans on rack.