Dark chocolate biscotti

Nespresso cappuccino with dark chocolate biscotti © dan&tuesday

I have been wanting to do some baking but in the summer, I don’t really crave a lot of heavy cake-based kind of desserts. Eating fresh fruits beats any kind of fancy dessert in the summer. My favourite summer dessert is probably Eton Mess.

Still, I fancy getting the oven working to make me something lovely that does not need to be eaten in a couple of days. This biscotti should last a week if you store it well.

I have adapted this from the Hamlyn Cookery Book which is a fantastic book for beginning cooks (like myself).

You will need:

• 150 g of dark chocolate, chopped (I only have chocolate chips in my cupboard so I used those)
• 25 g of unsalted butter (Also run out so I used a slightly salted one)
• 225 g self-raising flour
• 2 free-range eggs
• 50 g light muscovado sugar (Didn’t have any so I used light brown caster sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g almond nuts, chopped or sliced (original recipe called for pecan nuts)
• icing sugar, for dusting

Tools

• baking sheet, greased or lined with baking paper
• Pre-heated oven at 190˚C
• mixing bowls

What to do

1. Melt 200g of the chopped dark chocolate with the butter.
   

   melting chocolate © dan&tuesday

2. Sift self-raising flour to a mixing bowl and then add eggs, sugar, nuts, vanilla extract, and the melted chocolate and butter mixture.
   

   mix everything © dan & tuesday

3. Add the rest of the chopped chocolate until you have a dough.
   

   make it into a dough © dan & tuesday

4. Dust the work surface with flour, transfer the dough, and cut it in half.
5. Form two logs of about 10 inches long (really depends on how big the baking sheet is!), flatten to about 2 cm thick (a little less than an inch). Transfer to the baking tray and then bake for 18-20 mins.
   

   cut into two logs © dan & tuesday

6. Remove from the oven and then reduce the heat of the oven to 160˚C.
7. Leave the biscotti to cool for 20 mins before cutting it with a bread knife (serrated) into 2 cm thick slices. In my first try, it keeps crumbling so I lost a few biscotti 😦 So I started cutting them a bit thicker.
   

   Leave to cool © dan & tuesday

8. Place the cut biscotti back into the baking tray with a little space in between them and then cook for another 15 mins.
9. Transfer to a wire rack and then dust with icing sugar.
   

   Dust with icing powder © dan & tuesday

10. Best served with coffee.

PS. I still love my Nespresso machine. It’s one of the best things I bought for our kitchen.

PPS. I am really liking the new flickr look, I find that inserting images is easier and does not involve going back and forth pages for me.

PPPS. I re-discovered smitten kitchen and Deb shares a chocolate hazelnut biscotti which I’ll try next time.

Cappuccino cheesecake

cappuccino cheesecake © tuesday

With my oven’s thermostat fixed,  I’m so excited to try a new dessert. Something I haven’t done before. My first stop is the Divine: Heavenly Chocolate recipes book. It has wonderful recipes with beautiful images. This is the second recipe I’ve used from the book. The first one was the rich, dark chocolate cup cake.

The cheesecake turned out really well. It has a perfect texture and the coffee taste really works well with its creaminess.

Oh, I should remind you that this is best prepared the day before. Now how to make this gorgeous dessert…

You need:

biscuits © tuesday

For the base of the cheesecake

• 1 bar of dark chocolate or Divine coffee chocolate (100g)
• 50 g unsalted butter, diced
• 200g Hob Nobs or digestive biscuits

crushing biscuits © tuesday

For the cheesecake

• 500g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
• 125g light muscovado sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1tbsp of hot water
• 1 tbsp Kahlua (optional)
• 2 large free range eggs

Dusting: cocoa powder

Tools:

• 23cm spring based cake tin, greased, put on a baking tray
• Oven pre-heat at 160˚C

What to do:

1. 

   melting chocolate © tuesday

   Break the chocolate into small pieces, put in a heat-proof bowl with the diced unsalted butter. Melt together. If you have not done this before, you can read here.

2. Crush the biscuits. I put them in a ziplock bag and then used a rolling pin.
3. Once the chocolate with butter is melted, remove from heat and then add the crushed biscuit. Mix very well then tip the mixture into the cake tin. Press the mixture into the base of of the tin and halfway up the side. Chill.
4. 

   cheesecake mixture © tuesday

   For the cheesecake, put all the filling ingredients in a food processor and run it until the mixture is smooth. Pour the filling on top of the cheesecake base.

5. Bake for about 40 minutes until it has set then turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake and let it cool in the oven.
6. Cover and let it chill overnight.
   

   © tuesday

7. A good trick in removing the cheesecake from a spring-based tin is by putting it on top of a tinned beans (or tomatoes) and then unclip to let the sides drop.
8. Dust the cappuccino cheesecake heavily with cocoa.
9. This can be stored but must eat within 4 days.

removing cheesecake from cake tin © tuesday

The photos I took for this recipe are also part of my project in the Intro to Photography class I am currently taking. The homework is take images that shows depth of field. If you have some time, please please please visit my flickr site by clicking here.

If you want to see the cappuccino cheesecake collection, you can click here. Or to see in a jazzy slideshow, click here.

Thanks! xx