The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011

I loved participating in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this holiday season! I had so much fun picking out a recipe and festive wrapping for the cookies that I sent to Forkful, My Year of Food, and Snapshots of Happiness. I also loved getting packages of delicious cookies in the mail (more on that later)! I am definitely going to sign up again next year.

The hardest part of the swap was picking the perfect cookie to bake; a sturdy cookie that would survive the mail and taste great even a few days after baking. I decided on biscotti. After poring through many recipes for it, a lot of testing and tweaking the flavors, I think this final chocolate and orange one is pretty great.

Orange Chocolate Biscotti
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1/4  teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons orange zest
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
white and semisweet chocolate for drizzling over finished cookies

Preheat the oven to 325° F 

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, juice, and zest. Add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide dough in half and form into two long (about 14 inches)  flat loaves on silpat (or parchment paper) lined baking or cookie sheets

Bake for 25 minutes (until golden brown). Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, or until cool enough to handle without burning yourself.

With a long serrated knife, cut the loaves diagonally (cutting on the bias will give you longer pieces of biscotti) into slices approximately 1/2 inch thick. Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, flip the biscotti and then bake for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool and then drizzle with melted chocolate.

cookie 'loaf' after first bake

sliced for next round in the oven

all done!

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