White Chocolate-Cashew Coffee Biscotti - Recipe #76

My third, last and possibly favorite of my biscotti recipes for the Challenge. Saturday morning seemed like the perfect time to bake this crunchy treats as an accompaniment to our morning chai/tea. This was the December 2004 cover recipe of Cooking Light. Mine did not turn out quite so elegant - probably because I need to work on my drizzling technique. Also a perfect snack while watching a movie (Interstellar, which I loved despite its long running time and my narrow escape from IMAX-induced motion sickness).

White Chocolate-Cashew Coffee Biscotti

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white (finally, a use for the egg white leftover from my chocolate espresso cinnamon rolls)
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. instant coffee granules
• 3 T. unsweetened cocoa
• 1 t. baking soda (I omitted this because I used my go-to cocoa blend)
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/8 t. nutmeg
• 3/4 c. dry-roasted cashews, coarsely chopped
• Cooking spray (or a Silpat)
• 1 T. sugar
• 3 oz. premium white chocolate, chopped (I used white chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350.

Place first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.

Combine flour, instant coffee, cocoa, baking soda (if using), cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to sugar mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in the cashews. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a 12-inch-long roll. Place rolls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; pat to even 3/4-inch thickness. Sprinkle rolls evenly with 1 T. sugar (I used the sugar/cocoa/cinnamon/coffee mix left-over from the Quick and Dirty Chocolate and Espresso Cinnamon Rolls).

Bake at 350 for 22 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire reack. Cut each roll diagonally into 21 (1/2 slices). Carefully stand slices upright on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325; bake 20 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Place chocolate in a small heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until the chocolate is soft. Knead bag until smooth. Snip a tiny hole in corner of bag; drizzle chocolate over biscotti.