A Tale of Two Biscottis (or Aw, Nuts)

A small group of friends and I get together every week or so to knit. Sometimes we go to a coffee shop and sometimes we meet at one another's houses. Last week I offered to host and the host usually bakes some kind of cookie or cake and we drink tea, and eat dessert and knit. All this sounds very sweet and dainty, which it isn't at all, ever, but especially not these days since we just finished up our contribution to this project.
Back to the food. The baking is a little more challenging of late as one friend has a small list of foods she can't eat while she's breastfeeding -- dairy, nuts and soy. Since she can have eggs it's really not so hard, sort of like vegan baking but without having to use the weird powdered egg substitute. Plus, it's an interesting challenge, makes me think even more that I already do about what I'm making, and reminds me how lucky I am to never have been allergic to anything (knock on wood).
As I started to think of what to bake, one of the first (usually) dairy-free sweets that came to mind was biscotti. I browsed and browsed Epicurious for a recipe, and clicking link after link, every time thinking I'd just found the perfect thing, only to be dissuaded by the negative comments (future blog post idea: "Comments: Culinary god-send or Curse"). I finally stumbled upon a Ginger Almond Biscotti that sounded perfect and set about whipping them up. Just as I was spreading them out on the pan and patting myself on the back for coming up with something so delicious and dairy-free, I remembered that almonds are nuts, and Megan can't have nuts. Never fear, though, I was a good hostess and made a second batch of biscotti. This time with my trusty and well-tested chocolate hazelnut recipe, subbing dried cherries for the nuts.


Chocolate Cherry Biscotti*
Both the biscotti were delicious, and for the two of us that could eat both, one of us voted for the ginger and the other for the chocolate. Either way, the recipes are incredibly simple, even with the fact that the cookies need to be baked twice. Plus, biscotti will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container, so next time I might just make both on purpose.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Oil a long-ish baking sheet

2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 tbl coffee (I just use whatever's left in my coffee pot from the morning, but I think the original recipe called for mixing 1 tbl hot water with 2 tsp instant coffee. It might give you a stronger coffee flavor if you like that.)
1/3 cup dried cherries (or chopped hazelnuts)

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
2. Beat eggs and add to the dry mixture.
3. Stir in coffee and cherries, mixing until dough is wet and smooth. This takes a little work to do by hand, but a wooden spoon works nicely. It will be very thick, but it will all come together.
4. On the baking sheet, shape the dough into two long logs, about 8 inches long and 3 inches wide. Bake the logs for 25-30 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325. Cut the log on a diagonal and return slices to the baking sheet, laying them on their side. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool on a rack and enjoy dipped in coffee or tea.

*I have no idea where this recipe is from. It's been on a small scrap of paper with my cookbooks for the last 8 years or so. How it's managed not to get lost from Boston to Chicago to Seattle to Syracuse is a mystery. Luckily, it now lives on Google's servers.