Double Chocolate Mochaccino Bacon Biscotti

I have been being asked at work for weeks for my home made biscotti.  I finally broke down this week and started asking everyone what flavor they wanted.  A predominate leaning of the vote was towards chocolate.  Now I have absolutely no problem with making chocolate biscotti.  The problem I have is sharing it.  Fortunately for my coworkers, I am going to share.  But I could hardly make a plain chocolate biscotti.  Y’all know I have to come up with something totally out of this world.  First off it will be made with dark chocolate chips.  Not the ordinary milk chocolate chips.

So, then as I was reading posts on Facebook, I came across posts for the grand opening this past Monday of “Dough”.  The little next door sister of “Datz”, my favorite place to fill my ultimate culinary desires.  “Dough” is THE place to fill your quirky, whimsical, dessert and pastry needs and I will be doing just that on a regular basis.  That’s when I saw a good many of their delicious delights contained bacon.  Whoa…did you hear that?  Trumpets and harps from heaven are playing.  BACON.  It seems that bacon has made its way across the outdoor patio from “Datz” to “Dough”.  There go the trumpets and harps again…… or is that my stomach?

So now I know that bacon is going to be jumping into this batch of Biscotti as well.  I just couldn’t help think of how everyone’s mouth would be watering as they dunked their biscotti tomorrow into their coffee.  WAIT. Coffee?  Hmmm…. You got it.  I am going to make sure that if they don’t have coffee in the morning to dunk their biscotti, I’d just put it in the biscotti as well. OMG…… Dark chocolate, bacon and coffee all in one.  Now that is my ultimate idea of a treat.  Maybe I won’t be sharing.

So now onto the recipe.  Mainly because I can’t wait to get these babies into the oven and then onto my taste buds.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 strips bacon, fried and chopped
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso,  baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

With a mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes until light. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla; beat for another 2 minutes. Decrease the speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the bacon and dark chocolate chips.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead a few times just to incorporate any dry ingredients that didn’t get mixed in before.

Divide into two portions; on the baking sheet, shape each portion into a 12 x 2 inch log. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the sheet from the oven and let it cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Then, with a very sharp, serrated knife, slice the logs into about 3/4 – 1 inch slices and leave the slices standing up on the baking sheet. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes of baking.

Transfer biscotti to a rack to cool. Oh, and grab one while its hot.  It’s great in a big glass of ice cold milk while hot.