Italian Orange Chocolate Biscotti

A delicious orange-flavored crunchy Biscotti with dark chocolate chips, is the perfect end-of-meal dessert or afternoon snack, especially if dipped in warm tea or sweet wine. It's a perfect Italian Holiday cookie and a great edible gift idea for friends and family. It's very easy to make, and you only need one bowl and a few ingredients.

Biscotti, or Cantucci, is a traditional and very common cookie in Tuscany. It's served in every Tuscan trattoria at the end of the meal and it's common to dip in Tuscan sweet wine called Vin Santo. The original recipe of Cantucci is made with almonds and honey, but in modern days is very common to find in commerce a variety of flavors. The best combination, in my opinion, is the orange and chocolate Biscotti.

Chocolate and orange together remind me of Christmas, Terry's Chocolate Orange, and candied orange peels dipped in chocolate (my absolute weakness).

What is Biscotti?

The word Biscotti in Italian is commonly used to call every cookie. These "Biscotti" are actually called "Cantucci" and they're a traditional Tuscan cookie from the city of Prato. They're also called "Biscotti di Prato" (meaning "Cookies from Prato"). I believe this is where the international name of Biscotti came from, to identify these delicious elongated crunchy cookies.

What does Biscotti means?

The word "Biscotti" literally means "baked twice" and that's why it's more commonly associated with these Cantucci cookies, as they're actually baked twice.

How do you make Chocolate Orange Biscotti?

These cookies are very easy to make. The main difference between other types of cookies is that you only need one bowl and the dough does not require any chilling or resting.

The most important step is to whisk energetically the eggs with sugar until they become light and foamy. You can do this step with an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer for better and faster results.

Then, you only need to add all the other ingredients to the bowl and mix well until you get a sticky cookie dough.

Wet your hands and form the log shapes on a baking tray. They should be about 2-3 inches (5-7 cm) wide and can take the whole length of the baking tray. Keep the logs at least 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) away from each other.

With wet hands smooth the surface as much as possible (you can also try with a wet spoon). Then, sprinkle with sugar and bake in the preheated oven at 180°C (375°F) for 20-25 minutes.

Let the logs cool down slightly, then cut them up. Turn the chocolate orange biscotti on their side on the baking tray. Then, bake a second time for a few minutes more.

How can I make Biscotti less hard?

Cantucci are made for dipping. That's why they're quite hard and crunchy. If you don't dip them in sweet wine, tea, or coffee, they're sometimes very hard to eat.

Personally, though, I love to crunch on cookies whenever I crave them, without having to dip them every time. So I prefer to make them slightly softer so they can be easily enjoyed with or without dipping.

To leave them softer, the cooking time is crucial. Remove the logs from the oven when they turn golden and after you cut them into the Biscotti shapes. You can then choose to not do the second bake or to bake them just a few minutes more, depending on how cooked they are inside. Do not bake them for more than 5 minutes on the second bake, otherwise, they'll turn quite hard and crunchy.

I then store the cooled cookies in tin cookie boxes or a glass cookie jar.

The Recipe

If you like this recipe, try also these other sweet recipes:

• Classic Tuscan Biscotti with Almonds
• "Cavallucci" Tuscan Christmas cookies with walnuts
• Chestnut cookies with Pumpkin spice jam
• Raspberry Chocolate mini Bundt cakes
• Cenci, Carnival fried ribbons

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