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1
Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
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2
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
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3
Beat together 3 eggs, sugar, vanilla extract. Stir in chocolate chips and flour mixture till dough comes together with flour completely blended. Divide dough in half.
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4
To one half of the dough, mix in orange zest, almonds and almond extract till thoroughly incorporated.
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5
To the other half of dough, mix in the espresso powder and pecans till thoroughly incorporated.
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6
On a lightly floured surface, roll each of the doughs into a log the length of the baking sheet. Place them both on the baking sheet evenly spaced apart. Gently flatten the tops. Brush the logs with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar and/or coarse salt (if using).
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7
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes--till dough is dry and feels firm to the touch.
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8
Remove dough from oven and let cool for 15 minutes on cutting board. With a serrated bread knife, cut the logs into 1/2-3/4 inch slices. Place the cookies cut-side-down on the baking sheet. (You will probably need a second baking sheet. Line it with parchment paper.) Return the cookies to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. Take baking sheets out and rotate them. Turn cookies over. Return them to the oven to cook for 10-15 minutes more, till dry but not burned.
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9
Cool completely. If you're a total chocoholic, you can melt a little dark chocolate and dip the cookies in chocolate, letting them cool till the chocolate hardens. But that might be gilding the lily.
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10
Brew some espresso, scoop out some gelato, and enjoy these!
