Chocolate Decadence - The Eighties Most Iconic Dessert

This “flourless” chocolate cake was all the rage in the 1980’s, and looking back, it all makes sense. As I vaguely remember, the decade celebrated decadent overindulgence, and this dessert is that, and more. By modern standards, this cake is ridiculously rich. In fact, some of you may find it too intense, but most true chocolate fiends will be in heaven.

This was invented by chef Narsai David, in Berkeley, California, and while close to the original, I bumped up the ingredient amounts a bit, so we can use a standard 9-inch pan.  Also, he doesn’t use cayenne. By the way, if you don’t use the same chocolate I did (milk, white, etc.), I can’t tell you what will happen, because I don’t know.

I dusted the buttered pan with flour, because that’s how Mr. David does it, but my sources in the pastry world tell me that cocoa may be a better choice, since it won’t leave a light film. Doesn’t bother me, but I have to write something for these posts. 

Be careful not to overcook this. It goes for a relatively short time in a hot oven, so while mine took about 14 minutes, you should start checking around 13. The top will be just barely set, with a jiggle below the surface. If it’s really soupy, then leave it another minute and check again.

This is best served very cold. It’s easier to cut, and I enjoy the texture more than at room temp. As I mentioned, stay tuned for the raspberry sauce video, which I’ll post on Friday. That will give you plenty of time to practice both for Valentine’s Day. I hope you give this a try soon.  Enjoy!

Ingredients for one 9-inch cake pan (this is extremely rich cake, so you can easily get 12 to 16 servings):

18 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (62% cacao)

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour

5 large eggs, room temp, or slightly warm for best results

tiny pinch of cayenne and salt

- serve with ice-cold fresh raspberry sauce

* Bake at 425 F. for probably 12-15 minutes depending on the oven, until just barely set, with a jiggle below the surface. The cake will firm up as it cools.

TIP: If you want to remove your cake from the pan for presentation, just set it in a pan of hot water for a minute, and it will pop right out. 

Microwave Chocolate Cake Recipe in 7 Minutes (Eggless Options Included)

Learn how to make a chocolate cake in 7 minutes or less in your microwave. This cake is self-saucing so once you are done, there's a layer of gooey chocolate sauce on top to keep it moist and it needs no oven, no beating the batter until your elbows ache, and no fancy ingredients. Dangerous, I know!

When I made the 5-min Chocolate Mug Cake for the first time, my life changed a little. Before I knew it, I was whipping up 'cake' in a mug in less than 5 minutes whenever my tastebuds demanded, which was very often. After 2 weeks of too much mug cakes, I told myself to stop it already. While the microwave is not really meant for baking, these quick cakes are definitely an exception.

I had bookmarked this self-saucing microwave chocolate cake ages ago and finally got to making it a couple weekends ago. The thing with the mug cake is that if you let it sit for a while after it's cool, it turns rubbery and possibly inedible. This cake, however, has a lovely gooey chocolate sauce on top that keeps it moist and nice for up to a day. Fresh out of the microwave, you can't even tell it was whipped up in the microwave in a few minutes and not really baked.

I made a couple of minor errors when making this cake in the microwave which I don't want you guys to repeat. Learn from my mistakes, you know?

- I overcooked the cake a tad. I halved the recipe but didn't reduce the cooking time. I know this seems obvious but, ah well, I'm not perfect you guys. I have adjusted this in the recipe instructions below
- I halved the sugar in the sauce and this was a big mistake. The cake wasn't very sweet at all and no one likes a not-sweet cake, definitely not me, so we rectified it by eating the cake with vanilla ice-cream
- I scooped the cake out with a spoon and didn't cut it with a knife like a civilised person would do, which explains the wonky pieces in the pictures. This is not really a 'mistake' but hot cake and vanilla ice cream is a killer combo and I admittedly got a bit impatient.

Ok that's it, on to making cake in the microwave. Let's go!

MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE CAKE IN 7 MINS

Preparation time: 4 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
Makes One small 5" Cake
Serves 4
Adapted from: allrecipes

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tbsp of melted butter
1 of egg
2 tbsp of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
For the sauce:
1/2 cup of brown sugar (or just use white sugar)
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
75 ml of warm water

INSTRUCTIONS:

0. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl with a whisk.

1. Add the egg, melted butter (I didn't melt it though), milk, and vanilla to this.

2.  Whisk again gently until well combined.

3. Grease a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl with some butter and pour the batter in. If the batter is too thick, add a couple of teaspoons of milk. It should be thick, yet pourable. Use a spatula to flatten the top of the batter as much as possible so it cooks up evenly. Also, use a bowl that is large enough for the sauce to bubble up in the microwave.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar and cocoa for the sauce.

5. Lay this mixture evenly on the cake batter.

6. Pour the warm water gently over this so as not to disturb the batter too much.

7. Use a fork to prick the batter below so that the sauce seeps through the batter.

8. Microwave on high for about 3 mins. The total time required will depend a lot on the size of your bowl, power of your microwave (mine is 1100 W), etc. So start with 3 mins and if the cake still looks too watery, give it another 30 seconds. Remember that the cake will get really hot in the MW and will continue to cook a bit further after done so it's better to stop when you feel l like it needs one more 30-second round. The sauce will also bubble up quite a bit as it cooks.

9. Done! A bit overdone in this picture, actually. Stop when there's still some sauce swimming around the cake. I know this is not the prettiest looking cake but it tastes pretty great for a chocolate cake that gets done in the microwave in 7 minutes!

Let it cool down a bit before you cut. I tried to unmould it but the shape was all wonky. Doesn't matter if it's odd shaped, place a piece on a plate, pour some sauce from the bowl on top, and enjoy with some vanilla ice-cream.

Notes:

1. If you want to make an eggless chocolate cake in the microwave, try the usual egg replacements like flax seed powder or yogurt. You will have to experiment a bit with the quantities. I haven't tried this myself
2. You can try replacing the butter for vegetable oil, worth experimenting if you so feel inclined
3. The cake keeps well for a day or two in the refrigerator but it's best eaten warm as it does tend to dry out a bit when left for long. Re-heat for 20 seconds in the MW if you are serving later
4. Obviously, you can customize this the way you want by adding chocolate chips, dried fruits, nuts, etc
5. Disclaimer: a cake made in the microwave is never going to taste the same as a baked one so set expectations accordingly. The total time taken to prepare/cook will depend on your speed of cooking, your microwave and power, etc and may go over 7 mins

For microwave chocolate cake recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, etc, please use the translate button in the sidebar.

Chocolate Cookie Brownies - Chocolate Brownies with a Cookie Crust

Chocolate Cookie Brownies - these brownies with a lovely crackly cookie top actually happened through a happy accident. I was trying to bake these delicious looking brownie cookies that were getting pinned left right and centre on Pinterest and the cookie dough turned out like brownie batter and i had no option other than to pour them into a small brownie pan and some mini ramekins to bake them up. I really had no high hopes for them, quite disappointed that the evening was not going to hand me some delicious brownie cookies but hey - sometimes bad things lead to better things, in this case, these gorgeously fudgy Cookie Brownies.

The original recipe is from Epicurious and there are lots of rave reviews from people who actually tried this recipe and got cookies instead of a brownie like me and all I can think of is that I went wrong with the beating of the eggs, which is a very important and slightly time-consuming step in this recipe. So as weird as it may seem, I am going to advice you guys to follow the recipe exactly as below (I did that too except to scale down the chocolate chips) and see if you get a cookie dough. If you do, yay, just bake them into cookies. If not, you can bake them in small cupcake trays or muffin pans into these lovely, fudgy, cookie-topped brownies. Either way, they are delicious.

As you can see in the picture above, the brownie part turned out super moist and fudgy and the top part was crunchy like a cookie. Quite a treat, I must say. If you are looking for more brownie goodness on Edible Garden, check out all brownie recipes here or some of my favourites, the Eggless Chocolate Brownies, No-Bake Biscuit Brownies, or the Basic Brownie Recipe that's very easy to customize.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE BROWNIES RECIPE

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes ~ 20 brownie pieces

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup of plain flour or maida
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup of sugar (remove 2 tbsp for a milder brownie)
• 1/2 tsp of instant coffee powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chunks or dark cooking chocolate broken into bits
• 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F / 190C. Grease and prepare a mini cupcake or muffin tray. If you use a regular cupcake tray, baking times will vary and be warned that I haven't tried that out myself.

2. Using a double boiler (a smaller bowl placed over a larger bowl of rolling boiling water without touching the water should contain the ingredients to be double boiled), melt the chocolate pieces or chunks and butter together. Remove when they are soft and lumpy and mix well together until glossy. Set aside. to cool. I am guessing you are also use the microwave for this job.

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer or using your electric beater, briefly whip the eggs to break them and add the vanilla, coffee powder, and sugar. Beat on high speed for 15 mins until thick. Yes, you read it right, it says 15 mins. That's a long time. But just do it. Even if you don't get a cookie, you'll end up with a wonderful brownie like I did.

4. Pour the melted chocolate into the whipped eggs and fold gently without breaking the bubbles too much. It's ok if some streaks remain.

5. in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

6. Tip flour mixture into the egg-chocolate mixture and fold gently again. Finally add the chocolate chips and fold again.

At this stage, if you get a thick dough-batter that you can bake into cookies, do that. Just lay teaspoonfuls of dough on a greased baking tray and bake away. If, like me, you got a runny batter, just pour into small brownie moulds or whatever you have in hand. I used a small heart shaped brownie mould and mini ramekins. Make sure you grease the baking pan generously with butter.

7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 7-10 mins depending on the size of your pan. The tip will crack beautifully and turn crisp and the centre should still jiggle when down. It will firm up on cooling.

That's it! Delicious cookie brownies are ready. Allow to cool completely before unmoulding.. The batter can be refrigerated up to one day if you want to prep ahead and bake a fresh batch for guests the following day. Serve with a dollop of cream or vanilla ice cream, you know you want to!

Eggless Brownies - Eggless Chocolate Brownie Recipe

I like brownies no matter what texture or form they come in. I've tried them all - chewy, cake-y, sponge-y, moist, dense, light, you name it. One of my favourite kinds to make at home is the softer cake-like brownies. I usually use my easy basic brownie recipe with different variations when I bake brownies at home but a couple of months back, I needed to bake some eggless brownies for a friend. A quick search brought me to this wonderful recipe, truly no-fail and super easy to make.

Since my oven has hotspots, I usually cover my baking tray loosely with some aluminium foil and leave a small slit on top. I did the same while baking these brownies and feel that it made the top a bit too moist and more cake-like, without that crinkly cracked top usually found on brownies. Fret not! They tasted great and much like brownies!
This is yet another brownie recipe you can adapt to your heart's content. Add some chopped walnuts or other nuts, throw in some chocolate chips, add some chocolate ganache on top and make it richer, go crazy! I just chose to add some chopped walnuts on top for texture, packed them up to give away, and they were good to go!

Other Brownie Recipes you may like:
Plain Chocolate Brownies (with egg)
Katherine Hepburn Brownies
Triple Chocolate Brownies
Twix Brownies
Eggless Biscuit Brownies (no oven or baking needed)

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE BROWNIE RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes ~12 squares
Recipe adapted from: Food for 7 Stages of Life

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour or maida
• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder (I use and love Valrhona)
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp of powdered sugar (measure after powdering)
• 1 tsp of baking soda (soda bi carb)
• A pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 tsp of vinegar
• 1/2 tsp of instant coffee powder
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• A fistful of walnuts, chopped

To Make the Brownies:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. How to pre-heat an oven.
2. Mix the milk at room temperature with the vinegar and set aside (Side-note: if a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don't have any in hand, this milk + vinegar mixture acts as a great substitute for buttermilk)
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, soda, cocoa powder, coffee powder, and salt. Mix the powdered sugar with this and stir well to combine
4. Mix the oil and vanilla to the milk + vinegar mixture that's been set aside
5. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold to combine until there are no more streaks of flour left
6. Transfer the batter to a greased 8X8 pan and add chopped walnuts on top
7. Bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the brownie comes out with crumbs
8. Let the baked brownies sit in the pan and cool completely before you cut into squares
9. Keeps well for up to 2 days outside or 4 days refrigerated

Notes:

• You can add chocolate chips, caramel chips, chocolate chunks, other nuts, pretty much anything you prefer to change up the flavour of the brownies
• Adding a layer of chocolate ganache would really fancy up the brownies
• You can replace the oil with melted butter
• You can replace the milk+vinegar mixture with buttermilk

Featured in the pictures:
Chicago Metallic Brownie Pan (I can't seem to find the same colour online anymore) from Sur La Table
Tasting Square Plates from Costplus World Market

Eggless Steamed Chocolate Cake (No-Oven No-Bake) Eggless Choc Cake

I was making a layered checkered cake for a good friend last weekend using the eggless sponge cake as the base. For the chocolate sponge cake layer, I just added some cocoa powder to the batter and removed some flour to compensate. While going through the steps for the cake, I suddenly had this urge to take some of the chocolate sponge cake batter and steam it since I get a lot of questions from readers if they can make a cake without an oven, or if they can steam cakes instead of baking them. Well, there was only one way to find out.

So I pulled out two pudding moulds, greased them, added the chocolate batter, and steamed them. The resulting steamed eggless chocolate cake was moist, soft, fudgy, and delicious! I got super excited and wanted to share this steamed chocolate cake with you immediately.

So those of you without an oven, don't worry about making your own cakes. Steamed cakes are the way to go!

Before you attempt steaming cakes, please read the notes at the bottom of this post, they are from my experience and kinda important.

Some Useful Links:
How to make curd at home
How to make cupcake / cake moulds at home
Eggless basic sponge cake recipe

Eggless Steamed Chocolate Cake (No-Oven No-Bake)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes ~12 mini steamed cakes
Recipe adapted from Basic Eggless Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour or plain flour
1 cup of plain curd or yogurt, at room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tsp of vanilla extract or essence
3 tbsp of cocoa powder
Silver foil for covering the cake moulds

How to make Steamed Eggless Chocolate Cake:

1. Beat the curd without any lumps and add the sugar to it. Beat again well. I used an electric beater for this but a normal whisk will do just fine. Add the soda and baking powder, mix well, and set aside for 5 mins until the mixture starts to bubble on top. Then add the vanilla and oil and mix well to combine. Remove 3 tbsp of flour from the measured 1.5 cups and add the cocoa powder to it. Sift into the wet ingredients in and gently fold until you see no streaks of flour left.

2. Grease two muffin cups (or any small container that fits in your steamer) generously with butter. Add some batter to it.

3. Cover the cake moulds with aluminium foil. This is important because if you don't, water that condenses inside the steamer will fall into your matter and that's not good at all.

4. Place in your steamer and cover.

5. Cook for 30 mins or until the top of the cake springs back on touch and a fork inserted in it comes out with moist crumbs.

6. Let the cakes cool in the mould and once cool, run a knife along the edge of the cakes and gently invert onto serving plates.

Tadaaa! Eggless steamed chocolate cakes are ready. These cakes are best served fresh and when still warm. As I mentioned, I was making a birthday cake for a friend so also had some chocolate buttercream in hand which I piped on the cake. This is purely optional but a bit of chocolate sauce definitely won't hurt.

Notes:

- The cake is quite sweet on its own so the frosting or sauce on top is totally optional. The cake on its own is not very pretty though so if you are serving for guests, whip up some buttercream. I followed the recipe here for Basic Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Or just use chocolate sauce.

- It's also possible to make cake in a pressure cooker.

- As mentioned, covering the cake moulds while steaming is important. Also, try to steam this cake in small batches and not in one big cake tray. I feel like the insides may not cook too well otherwise.

- The 30 mins I have mentioned is purely based on my steamer which is quite small and I only had two cakes cooking inside. You may need longer cooking time depending on your steamer and other factors. It's ok to open the steamer and check in between but make sure you cover the mould again with the foil if the cake needs more cooking time,

- Cook the cake with the steamer on low flame or simmer.

- I found that this steamed chocolate cake is best served on the same day. I have half of one leftover and the next day it was a bit more dense. It was still good and edible but not as good as freshly serving the cake.

- You can try many variations in flavours with this basic cake recipe. Omit the cocoa for a plain vanilla eggless steamed sponge cake. Add chocolate chips, fruit bits, tutti fruity, the options are endless.

- A friend messaged me to ask if this steamed chocolate cake can be made in idli moulds. That's when I remembered the chocolate idlis I used to make when I was in school. The batter recipe was different but I am positive this recipe with work if you steam the cake in idli moulds too. Do leave a comment if you try it.

- The texture of steamed cake is a bit different from the baked one. It will be more moist, a bit heavier, and not springy. It's still delicious but expect more of a pudding-cake than an airy cake.

- I use Valrhona Cocoa Powder in all my chocolate cakes and desserts. It is Dutch-processed but I use it in all recipes anyway, even the ones that call for non Dutch-processed cocoa powder. It gives a deep mahogany colour to your dessert and the flavour is unmatched (not a paid endorsement).

So what are you waiting for? Make cake. Eat. Smile.

Crinkle Cookies Recipe | Crackle Cookies | Christmas Cookie Recipes

Crinkle cookies or crackle cookies are pretty unique in that they have a slightly raised, cracked top and a crispy outer "crust" and yet a soft almost cake-like interior. The cracks on top are highlighted by the icing sugar we roll the cookie dough in before baking.

My interest in Crinkle Cookies was aroused when I read Confessions of a Closet Baker which has a similar cookie and a story surrounding it, which the author refers to as Starry Starry Nights. What a lovely name compared to Crackle Cookies or Crinkle Cookies, eh?

Anyway, I decided to bake up some Crinkle Cookies this Christmas season when everyone has cookies and cakes on their minds.

The recipe is adapted from a recent favourite baking book - The Baker by Leanne Kitchen. There are some great recipes in there, most of which are easy and look fantastic. The photography in the book just sings to me because if I ever did a cookbook, that's how the pictures would look. It's totally my style.

Other cookie recipes you may enjoy - 1 minute mug cookie, eggless chocolate chip cookies, snowball cookies. 

Crinkle Cookies | Crackle Cookies

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes ~ 60 cookies
Recipe adapted from: The Baker by Leanne Kitchen

Ingredients:
2.5 cups of flour
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, left out and softened to room temperature
1.75 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/3 cup of milk
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of ground allspice or cinnamon (optional)
2.5 tbsp of cocoa powder
1/3 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecan)
1/3 cup of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate pieces
70 gm of dark chocolate (cooking chocolate)
1/4 tsp of salt
1 cup of icing sugar or powdered sugar for coating

How to Make Crinkle or Crackle Cookies:

1. In another bowl. cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs one by one and beat again until well incorporated. Melt the chocolate (I used the microwave). Add the melted chocolate, vanilla, and milk to the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Mix well until combined.

2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the allspice or cinnamon to this, if using and whisk it well. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture and whisk gently to combine.

3. Fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips taking care not to overmix. You will have a thick-ish batter. Refrigerate this for atleast 4 hours or preferably overnight.

4. When you are ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. Take the cookie dough one small scoopful at a time, make a ball, and drop into the icing sugar. Coat generously and place on a lined baking tray about 2" apart. I pressed the top of the dough ball down gently because my first batch of cookies domed too much.

5. Bake for around 25 mins until the cookie top cracks and it's soft to touch but the edges are done. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack after 5 mins.

Gorgeous Crinkle Cookies (Crackle Cookies) are now ready to be enjoyed! I did feel that the cookies were a tad too sweet but that works fabulously with a glass of cold milk. You can also omit the chocolate chips in the dough if you'd like, that's my addition to this cookie recipe.

What's baking in your kitchens this Christmas?

Double Chocolate Biscotti | Christmas Cookie Recipe

Biscottis have been on my mind for a while and I had bookmarked quite a few biscotti recipes over the past few months, looked up the technique, figured out if I wanted to add nuts to my biscotti, leave it plain, add fruit zest, and a million other things.

The final kick came in when I got some lovely almond orange biscotti from a friend on Diwali. They were beautifully baked and immediately sent me to the kitchen to bake up my own batch of Double Chocolate Biscotti!

TH's first reaction on biting into these was "is this chocolate rusk?". I took that as a good sign that the biscotti has indeed come out crisp, much like rusk, the way it should! Biscotti are Italian biscuits or cookies that are twice-baked, giving them a lovely crispy edge and a porous texture which is great for dipping in coffee or tea. They are great on their own too, but I love it with milk, especially chocolate biscotti.

Once again, I must say that the deep colour of my chocolate biscotti is due to the gorgeous cocoa I use - Valrhona Cocoa Powder - which I buy in small batches from Whole Foods whenever I visit the US. They store really well in the refrigerator and have a lovely deep brown-purple colour.

Other cookie recipes you may enjoy - Sweetheart sugar cookies, banana oatmeal cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies.

Double Chocolate Biscotti Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Makes 10-12 long biscotti
Recipe adapted from: Dorie's Baking: From my Home to Yours (A book I'd highly recommend, btw)

Ingredients:
1 cup of all-purpose flour (maida)
� cup of cocoa powder
1.5 tsp of instant coffee powder
? tsp of baking soda
� tsp of baking powder
3 tbsp of butter, at room temperature
� cup of sugar
1 egg
� tsp of vanilla extract
� cup of chopped nuts (I used Pecan)
� cup of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
A pinch of salt

How to make Chocolate Biscotti:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. Prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a baking mat.

2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Mix well until it�s combined.

3. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. You can use a stand mixer, hand mixer or a hand-held whisk for this but obviously the time taken will vary. I beat it for 3 mins on my stand mixer.

4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again on medium speed, scraping down the sides as you go. The mixture may look curdled, that�s totally fine.

5. Reduce speed to low and add the dry mixture in three additions. Gently mix until a dough is formed. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour by the tablespoon until you get a semi-sticky dough.

6. Chop up the nuts and chocolate chunks (if not using chocolate chips).

7. Fold into the dough until it's well distributed throughout.

8. Shape into a 1� thick log with wet fingertips onto the lined baking sheet. Mine was more of an oval, oblong log, just make sure it's not too wide because then your biscottis will be super extra long and hard to handle. Use wet fingertips, the extra moisture helps crisp up the biscotti as they bake.

9. Bake in the pre-heated oven at the same temperature for 20-25 mins. The top may crack a bit and you will get a lovely chocolate smell. Touch the top and it should still be soft and form a dent. Remove from oven (but leave the oven on).

10. Let it cool down a bit but when still warm, cut into 1� wide pieces using a serrated knife or bread knife using a gentle sawing motion. Don�t worry if the pieces crumble a bit.

11. Bake the pieces again by placing them upright or one side down. You need to give them another 10 mins in the oven to crisp up. If you are placing them one side down, it�s advisable to turn them over after 5 mins.

12. Once crispy, remove from the oven and let cool completely. They will crisp up further on cooling. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Biscottis made great Edible Gifts for Christmas since they store and transport well. You can wrap them up in some pretty plastic bags, throw them into brown paper bags tied with ribbon, or even pack them in long wide glass bottles.

Other Christmas Recipes you may like:

Fruit Cake

Snowball Cookies

Ginger Cookies

Spiral Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Orange Cake

Choc Chunk Cookies

Lemon Cake

Cake Pops

Carrot Cake

Choc Fudge Cake

Melting Moments