Chocolate-Craisin Biscotti

Looking for something to dip into your glass of milk, hot chocolate or tea? These are perfect. If you have never had biscotti, let me tell you a little bit about them. They are a hard, dry, cookie made for dipping. They orginate from Italy; today you will often find them decoratively displayed in a glass jar at your favorite cafe. You will often see almond flavored biscotti, vanilla biscotti dipped in chocolate, or chocolate biscotti with almonds. Really the options are endless. Here I combined the sweetness of chocolate with the tartness of craisins (dried cranberries). These are great to serve guests, give as gifts, or as a late night treat.

Chocolate-Craisin Biscotti
Pictures by Caroline
Recipe by Caroline
Yield: about 24 cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 ¼ cups white all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup craisins

Directions:
1. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until blended and creamy. Add the eggs and the vanilla, blend. In another mixing bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; stir together. Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined; your dough will be quite thick. Add craisins to dough mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.
3. Divide dough into two pieces. Shape each half into a 10-inch long roll. Place rolls on the prepared cookie sheet (you can flatten them slightly with your hand if you want thinner slices). Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool rolls on the cookie sheet for about 30 minutes.
4. Cut each roll diagonally into ½ inch slices. Place slices close together, cut side down, on the cookie sheet. Put back in the oven for about 8 minutes; remove from oven, flip each slice over and cook another 8 minutes (watch carefully so that you don’t overcook them). Remove from oven and let cool on a wire cooling rack. (Keep these in a sealed bag or jar so that they don't dry out, or you can freeze them.)