Almond Biscotti

The following is a biscotti recipe that I recently tried and loved the results.  In the past I have attempted other biscotti recipes and was always disappointed by the rock hard results.  These were nicely crispy, but not a chore to bite into.  I probably shouldn't be too surprised that the recipe was a success - it comes from the almost always good Smitten Kitchen home cooking blog.

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped or sliced almonds

1 large egg white, whisked until foamy

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.
Mix together sugar, butter, eggs, extracts, orange liqueur, and zest.
Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and combine.  Fold in almonds.
Divide dough in half and form each half into a loaf measuring about 3"x12" and put onto parchment covered baking sheet.  Loaves will spread in the oven so allow space between them on the baking sheet. Brush tops of loaves with egg white.  Bake loaves for about 30 minutes at 350 until nicely golden on top.  Cool loaves completely before slicing on the diagonal into 1/2" slices.  I got approximately 20 slices per loaf.  Arrange cut slices back on the baking sheet and return to the 350 oven for 8 minutes.  Remove baking sheet and flip biscotti slices.  Return to the oven for 8 minutes on the second side.  Cool biscotti completely before drizzling with melted chocolate (or dip one end of each biscotti in melted chocolate, if preferred).