Almond Biscotti

What could be better with your morning coffee than a tasty chocolate dipped biscotti!  My morning coffee routine was started at a young age, probably somewhere back in high school, when my dad would make coffee for me on the weekends.  Looking back, I probably would have benefited more from having coffee on school days instead of the weekend.  To go along with our morning coffee, my mom always kept a jar stocked with Nonni's Biscotti on the counter by the coffee pot.  My favorite biscotti of all time though definitely was my nonna's homemade biscotti.  I saw my nonna make biscotti a few times but never thought to pay close enough attention to exactly how she made them.  I knew she used almonds and what tasted like a hint of brandy, so after reading through a few biscotti recipes I came up with this recipe.  These biscotti taste just like I remember my nonna's biscotti tasting like.  I sweetened them up even more by dipping them in chocolate since I had some extra chocolate chips lying around.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
8 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp brandy
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole almonds
3 large eggs
2 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter.  Add brandy and extracts, mixing to combine, followed by the eggs.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt just until combined.  Mix in almonds.  Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Shape chilled dough into 2 4x10 inch logs on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until slightly golden, about 30-35 minutes.  Transfer logs to a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.  Using a sharp knife, cut logs into 3/4 in slices and arrange on a clean baking sheet, cut side down.  Bake biscotti until golden, about 25 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Optional: dip biscotti in melted semisweet chocolate chips