TWD on Friday: Lenox Almond Biscotti

I finally made the biscotti! After a week of emotional turmoil, caused both by midterms and my husband's departure, I finally made some time (and mustered the energy) to make these yummy treats! When I was in Iraq, my mom sent me economy-sized containers of biscotti. Most were chocolate-dipped, which my roommate and I practically had to battle for. Since then, my love for biscotti has only deepened. Can you imagine how excited I was to find that it would become this week's recipe challenge? And I have Gretchen of Canela & Comino to thank for it. She chose the recipe and if you want it, you're going to have to run over to her blog. And by the way, her blog is totally smokin'! She's got great pictures on there and so much more!

I was actually pretty nervous when I started out. I've had a few baking mishaps the last few weeks and I really didn't want to jack this one up! So after reading the directions a thousand times, I got to it! Since I had neither almonds nor almond extract in the house, I substituted the almonds with a mixture of Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and the almond extract with vanilla extract. I also found it a little strange that the recipe called for so much corn meal. Anyway, I was so nervous for the part with the logs, but I made sure I had them rolled/laid out to a tee at 12 inches long and 1.5 inches wide, as you can see above. I'd read on others' blogs that the batter spread, but I found that mine didn't as much, about 4 to 5 inches, as you can see here.

I was so anxious to get them going, I didn't wait the full 30 minutes for them to cool, which ended up being okay. I was able to actually lift the entire logs with my hands and onto my cutting board where I was able to arrange my "marching band" of cookies and send them back into the oven.

And the result? The most delicious homemade biscotti. I actually gave myself a pat on the back for not messing it up. Once they were cooled, they were so crunchy and the white chocolate and macadamia nut combo--classic! I love these. They were so simple to make. I'm definitely going to make them again, perhaps chocolate-dipped next time...or even to hand them out as Christmas gifts in December! Too cool! And just a note, I don't think I'll be using as much cornmeal next time. They may have been a little too grainy for my liking, but hey...my whole family didn't even notice, so whatever!

Once again, scoot on over to Gretchen's blog and check out the recipe! And thanks for the great pick for the week!