Chocolate-Almond Biscotti Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2¼ cups flour
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. shortening
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt

Preparation Before you start the process of making the biscotti, preheat the oven to somewhere around 350 to 360ºF. Then beat together sugar and butter until they make a smooth mixture. Once you have done that, add the almond extract and mix it well with the butter and sugar. Take another bowl now and mix the flour, cocoa powder, and the baking powder with the salt. Now add this mixture in the butter mixture that you had prepared. The two mixtures would form a dough in which the almond slices are to be added. Once the almond slices are added, the dough has to be divided in halves and given the shape of two logs. Now the two pieces of dough are to be placed on a greased paper and baked for approximately half an hour. Take them out after half an hour and cut them into slices. Bake again and this time for 6 minutes. Remove them after 6 minutes and glaze with a mix of chocolate and shortening, thus making the biscotti delectable. Apricot-Almond Biscotti Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup chopped almonds
• ¾ cup finely snipped dried apricots
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup butter
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. water
• ¼ tsp. ground cardamom or cinnamon

Preparation The first thing that has to be done is the softening of butter which can be done with the help of an electric mixer. Once the butter has softened, add baking powder, sugar, and cardamom or cinnamon. Beat the whole mixture until they combine well. Then the eggs have to be beaten and the vanilla extract has to be mixed with it. Now the remaining flour, if any, has to be added along with the apricots and the almonds. Now when the dough is made, it has to be divided into two halves and chilled. After an hour or two, take the dough out and cut it into logs and flatten them on a greased sheet. Now bake them at 375ºF for approximately half an hour. You can check if they are completely baked by inserting a wooden pick. If it comes out clean, the cookies are baked. Otherwise, not. Once they are baked, they are to be taken out of the oven and cut into pieces and baked for another 9 minutes or longer until the cookies become crispy. So enjoy your biscotti!!!