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1
Soaking the dried tart cherries in amaretto for at least an hour is recommended to enhance the flavor and soften them. Then chop them into bite size pieces. Set aside.
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2
Toast the two sets of almonds on separate cookie sheets. See notes for toasting recommendations.
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3
Heat oven to 375u00b0F. Grease a large sheet pan.
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4
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar together. Transfer 1/2 cup of the mixture to a food processor and add the toasted blanched almonds. Grind until fine and powdery (about 45 seconds). Add this into the remaining dry ingredients. Add chopped cherries, chopped whole almonds and white chocolate chunks. Mix together.
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5
Whisk eggs, extracts and sake together. Add them into the dry ingredients and mix. If too dry add 1 tablespoon of water. Add additional water, up to 4 tablespoons, if needed to make dough come together. Turn dough onto a floured surface (flour your hands too) and cut into 2 pieces.
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6
Press out the dough into 5x13x1-inch flattened logs. Don't be afraid to use extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to your surface.
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7
Transfer logs to the pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Rotate pan after 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Let them cool for 30 minutes.
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8
Reduce temp to 300u00b0F and cut logs diagonally into 3/4 inch thick slices with a serrated knife. It's easiest to line up your knife and press down to cut rather than trying to slice back and forth.
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9
Grease pan again. Lay slices on their sides and bake for 25 minutes. Then turn off the oven. Let them cool in the oven.
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10
Once cool, melt the remaining half of the white chocolate with the coconut oil in the top of a double boiler or very slowly in the microwave on super low heat. Drizzle chocolate over biscotti.
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11
Notes:
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1. Toast blanched almonds at 350u00b0F for just a few minutes until they just start to take on a hint of toasty brown color. The whole almonds will take about 8 minutes.
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2. It's important to use the right white chocolate for drizzling on top. The Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and baking bar ingredients differ which makes a huge difference when melting chocolate. The ingredients list for Ghirardelli Classic White baking chips includes no white chocolate, cocoa or cocoa butter making it a dry mess when you try to melt it for drizzling.
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14
3. The ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients is one aspect that affects the crispness or hardness of biscotti. One egg per one cup of flour and 1 tablespoon of liquor per one cup of flour are a good guideline for creating your own biscotti variety.
