Dark Chocolate Biscotti

Being stuck inside on a snow day can be boring. I tried various activities to occupy my mind. Cleaning, reading, playing in the snow with my adorable nieces (please note I tried to bring this Frosty to life with my own hat, but it didn't work.)  My hat isn't silk, so I'm assuming that's why I couldn't make a living being out of precipitation.

I also made some Belgian waffles. I jumped on the bed for awhile (it was fun, but please don't try it if you have low ceilings or aren't short like I am.)  Eventally I settled on the couch to watch old episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond. Is it just me or do they always seem to be drinking coffee & eating chips? Anyway, I was inspired by Marie Barones's biscotti & decided to make my own.

This recipe is a slight variation from the one in the book Clean Eating, Recharged by Tosca Reno (the clean eating queen). It's supposed to have almonds in it, but due to family nut allergies I've tweaked my version to omit them.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp instant decaf coffee
1/3 cup special dark cocoa powder
1 scoop cookies & cream muscle milk powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 tsp imitation almond extract
1/2 cup sucanat

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Use a mixer (preferably with a whisk attachment) to mix together the egg, egg white, sucanat, & extracts. Mix till they're frothy.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients & mix well.
4. Shape the dough into two somewhat flat logs on the cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven & reduce the temperature to 300. Let the biscotti cool for 10 minutes.
6. Slice diagonally into pieces & put back in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven & cool on a wire rack.

I loved these!! Dip them in coffee, hot cocoa, or milk. They're crunchy, but not so much they hurt your teeth. The almond flavor is just perfect with the dark chocolate flavor. Usually chocolate this dark can be bitter, but this wasn't at all. The sucanat & cookies & cream flavor from the protein powder soften it up. It's perfect for snow day baking fun.