Baking Biscotti for the Centennial Post

I can't believe it, but this is my 100th post. Prior to this I had thought I fell off the wagon when it came to posting, but now I realize that 100 posts in a little over a year isn't too shabby. Jason is at work tonight, so I will have to save the celebrating for our weekend camping :)

Lately on "Everybody Loves Raymond" Marie has been talking about biscotti. I have never made biscotti and I am not really sure why. It seems simple enough - bake the cookie twice instead of once - but for some reason the thought has never crossed my mind. With camping tomorrow and all of this talk about biscotti, I decided we could use a little treat for the trip and what better than a dessert that is already hard and doesn't need to be refrigerated? We are even bringing a french press with us to make coffee, so we can have our own little French cafe in the woods.

Chocolate Biscotti with Almonds
(adapted from multiple recipes)

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, soft at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/4 cup white flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup slivered almonds

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well.
3. In a small bowl add the remaining ingredients and mix well with a whisk.
4. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix again until smooth. The dough will be sticky.
5. Split the dough in half and place it on the parchment paper. Form the dough into a log about 12 inches long. Press down so the dough is about 1 1/2 inches thick.
6. Repeat with the remaining dough. Leave at least 2 inches between the logs (I did not and mine started to touch while baking).
7. Bake for 25 minutes. I recommend checking them at 20 minutes first. They are done once the middle is firm and the tops are starting to crack.
8. Remove from over and place parchment paper with logs on a cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes.
9. Line the baking sheet with a new piece of parchment paper. Slice the logs into 1 inch pieces with a serrated knife and place the cut side down onto the sheet (see photo). Repeat until all of the pieces are cut.
10. Bake for 7 minutes on each cut-side to harden up the biscotti.
11. Remove from the oven. Let cool and store in an air-tight container (after enjoying one, of course).