Your attached recipe looks nice. i think i’d prefer that to biscotti. if you do make chocolate biscotti, it’s hard to go over the top with christmas cookies so yes to the chocolate chips.

I'm a purist when it comes to biscotti. No chocolate. No frosting/dipped covering. Supposed to be hard for dipping in coffee. They do keep well, but they do stale. Any added moisture and fat will make them stale that much faster. Sugar is a preservative. The best keeping cookies, IME, are thin and crisp., and fairly sweet, like ginger thins. Keeping any of them in a truely air tight jar is best of all for keeping them crisp. But, yes, biscotti, at least the plain or hazelnut ones, should keep better than drop cookies.

Are your old peppermints still nice? They get gummy.

But, why not make what will be good? Cookies keep pretty well in general. You could make your linked recipe. They sound good.

Biscotti is best without the addition of chocolate. I would make scones instead. Get some fresh raspberries and mix them with the white chocolate chips. Mmmm!

Chocolate Chip Raspberry Scones

• 2-1/2 cups All Purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
• 1 cup frozen Raspberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients well. Cut in butter. Mix in cream. When the cream is almost incorporated, add fruit, berries or nuts. Bake at 425F for 15-18 minutes (high altitude - 440 degrees for 20 minutes) or until tops are just turning golden and centers are set.

I make these every year for gifts and are well received. They may not be traditional (which I don't care about) but are delicious. I like them because they are edible without breaking a tooth. They would be great with a white chocolate drizzle or dip.

Double chocolate biscotti

I made a batch of biscotti yesterday (first back the day before), and I used no butter or fat in making them. I also have not yet added any chocolate, and I love them just the way they are. I had to buy cardamom for the recipe, which was expensive, but it is worth it. I used 2 tsp of Amaretto in place of vanilla, and I like the biscotti much better this way.

Today I am going to add some chocolate to some of them and leave some of them plain. They are all very hard, but they won't exactly break a tooth. I need a better container for storing them, but at least the humidity here tends to be low.

For chocolate, I like Chocolate Crinkle cookies, and I might make a batch of those. I bought an additional baking/cookie sheet yesterday to fit a silicon pad that I have.

I would NOT add peppermint to biscotti. I love peppermint and chocolate together, but not almond and peppermint. I'm also not sure that white chocolate would stand up to peppermint.

Here's the biscotti recipe I use (from Nick Malgieri)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom or coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups unblanched whole almonds
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or Amaretto
• 8-10 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat and set aside. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl and stir with a rubber spatula to mix. Stir in the almonds.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl; then stir them into the flour mixture. The dough will be loose at first but will come together during the kneading process.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead, folding it over onto itself until it is smooth. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a 12 inch long log. Gently press down on the logs to flatten them until they are about 2 inches wide and 1 inch high. Transfer them to the prepared pan.

First Baking Bake the logs for about 30 minutes, or until they are slightly risen and firm to the touch. Slide the logs off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack. The logs must be completely cool before you can continue with the recipe. Since they will take about 30 minutes to cool, you can either turn the oven off or leave it on for the next step. You can bake the biscotti up to this point several days ahead. Wrap the logs well in plastic and continue when it is convenient.

Second Baking When the logs have cooled completely, preheat the oven to 350°F, if necessary. With a sharp serrated knife, cut the cooled logs diagonally into 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick slices. Place the sliced cookies cut side down on the pans and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, or until the biscotti are crisp and golden. Cool on the pans. Thicker slices will take longer to get crisp. You can slice them as thin as 1/4” thick, if preferred.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Dip flat side of cooled cookie into the chocolate and return it to the pan to cool again. If you have chocolate left over, you use a metal spatula to add more to the cookies or drizzle it over.

"I'm a purist when it comes to biscotti."

Me too. This is how I prefer my cantucci! No chocolate or other additions. Just a glass of Vin Santo.

Yesterday I dipped half of the biscotti that I had made in chocolate and left the other half plain. I had decided that I like the plain better, but Kevin wanted chocolate on his.

I've been having mine with tea, but I was thinking of having them with Amaretto as well. We never buy sweet wine.

Nor do we. The picture was taken in Italy. That was dessert.

Those all sound like good plans.

I do like mint, and I think chocolate crinkle cookies is a good idea for using the white chocolate and crushed mint. I'm not making any more cookies this month but here are the biscotti I made:

I should have left more of them plain, but I can give some of the chocolate ones to my sister - or just let Kevin eat them. He can go through a lot of biscotti. I'll reserve the plain ones for myself.

Anyway, we have two panettoni, although we have already eaten some of the chocolate one, and I do like it a lot although I think I will like the classico one better. I know that one will be better for French toast.

Jeals Lars! Some of my favorite goodies at your house!