Magazine/Cookbook Monday: Chocolate Covered Banana Biscotti

Have you ever noticed that basically every coffee shop offers biscotti for sale, but almost no one ever buys them? They always seem to be shoved to the side in a generic plastic wrapper, out shone by the lovely baked scones, cookies and muffins. When I ran across this recipe for banana biscotti in my Cookie Dough Fun cookbook, I decided it was high time I give biscotti a try. I had never seen biscotti made with fresh fruit before. I thought that maybe the banana would give the biscotti a bit more flavor and a bit more softness (I know biscotti is supposed to be hard but I don't want one that cracks my teeth!). The recipe was fairly easy to make, the only part that gave me some trouble was shaping the dough into loaves. I had to add A LOT of flour to get them not to stick. The resulting cookies have a light banana flavor that is complemented by a chocolate coating. They remind me of banana bread but crunchy. I dunked them in a mug of hot cocoa and thoroughly enjoyed munching away on my hard crunchy cookie, actually cookies.... it's hard to eat just one!

Chocolate Covered Banana Biscotti

Recipe from Cookie Dough Fun published by Favorite Brand Name Recipes (its a booklet I got at a used book store...)

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups white or milk chocolate chips, melted (I ended up using milk chocolate chips, but you will notice the ingredients pic is of white chocolate chips... i was feeling indecisive ;)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, set aside. Beat together margarine and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, bananas and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until combined.

Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, form each half into 12x3 inch logs. Don't worry too much if yours isn't perfect, that's the beauty of homemade! Place the logs on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. The recipe says you can put them on the same one, three inches apart. Mine wouldn't fit so I used 2 baking sheets.

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch and LIGHTLY brown.

Cool logs on wire rack 15 minutes.

Cut logs diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Place slices flat, in a single layer, on baking sheets. Bake 10 minutes more. Turn slices over; bake another ten minutes or until lightly browned on top and bottom of biscotti. Remove to wire rack; cool completely. Biscotti will harden as they cool.

Spread melted chocolate on one side of each biscotti. Place on baking sheets, chocolate side up, and chill 10 minutes or until chocolate is set.

Store in air-tight container in cool area. These keep for up to a week!

Happy dunking!