Freshly Pressed Euphoria & Espresso Crunch Biscotti

Let me just start with this:

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

and

iloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyou

Seriously though.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you all for your incredible kindness, your warm welcomes into this exciting new world* of blogging, and each.and.every.one of your words of encouragement and advise. I treasure every comment, every like, every reblog, and every single solitary view.

*cue Aladdin theme song

I truly and honestly feel as though I could end my blogging career right here, and be completely satisfied.

You see, I read them all. Sat myself down last night with a vat of the black, black, blackest coffee and soaked all of it in.

Four hundred comments. Eleven thousand views. Three hundred followers.

Every word.

Of every sentence.

Of every comment.

And somewhere, between the welcomes and well wishes, the growing number of reads and likes, this blissful, euphoria has come, cozied-up next to me, and has yet to leave my presence. That was you, my beloved readers. You gave that to me.

So now I can sit here, all warm and fuzzy inside, and honestly say that even if I never have another post freshly pressed, even if in three years I never have as many views or comments or likes as I have gotten in the last three days, I will press on because of memory of this experience. The knowledge that people from every corner of the world and I have been connected, even if only for a moment. Because of the overwhelming feeling of confidence and support that I have found in this place, I will keep going.

Now that I have properly and lengthily gushed over you all, let’s get down to the good stuff. Dessert. Because for me, there is no better way for me to reveal the depth of my love and affection for someone, than to feed them. And I love you all a whole heck of a lot.

Espresso Crunch Biscotti

Dark chocolate, nuttylicious goodness, wrapped up in a crunchy espresso cookie. Created to be dunked, splashed and soaked in your favorite mug of joe. Or eaten straight off the pan. I’m having one* in true celebratory form right now.

*and by one I mean two**

**and by two I mean “who’s counting?”

Espresso Crunch Biscotti

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup espresso or strong coffee
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. 

In a small bowl whisk together the espresso (coffee), milk, egg and vanilla extract.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) beat the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until combined. Gradually add the espresso mixture and beat until a dough forms, adding the chopped nuts and chocolate chips about halfway through. With floured hands divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a log about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. Transfer the logs to a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. Bake for about 35 minutes or until firm to the touch (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and to cool for about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. On a cutting board, using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise at an angle into 3/4 inch slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes (or until golden) on each side. Remove from oven, cool and store in an air tight container.

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