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Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips

Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips

Name: Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; ½ cup pine nuts, coarsely chopped; 2 cups all-purpose flour; ½ cup cornstarch; 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¾ cup granulated sugar; 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature; 2 large eggs; 1 tablespoon vanilla; 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

The Estate Bakery

Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips

Print Recipe

The Strategy:

There is a deeply satisfying, rustic elegance to baking classic twice-baked biscotti, especially when dressed with the rich sweetness of brown-sugared pine nuts. This recipe takes traditional Italian biscotti and elevates it with buttery, caramelized pine nuts and tiny pockets of dark chocolate chips, creating a perfectly crisp bite. It is a sophisticated bakery classic that brings a beautiful, slow-paced ritual to your kitchen, filling the home with an intoxicating, nutty aroma that calls everyone to the table.

Makes: about 3 dozen cookies | Total Time: 15 minutes to prep, plus 15 minutes chilling and 50 minutes to bake

Ingredients

For nuts

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup pine nuts, coarsely chopped

For cookie dry ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

For cookie wet ingredients

¾ cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

For chocolate chips

1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

An overhead, neatly organized mise en place for twice-baked biscotti on a rustic soapstone countertop. Styled white ceramic bowls contain mini chocolate chips, room temperature butter, farm-fresh eggs, flour, granulated and brown sugars, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and a mound of chopped pine nuts.

Instructions

Make pine nuts

Melt two tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Stir in brown sugar.
Add the pine nuts.
Stir to coat and then watch carefully. Just when the nuts begin to turn golden and you can smell nutty goodness, about 2 to 3 minutes, take them off the heat and transfer to a plate or parchment paper to cool.
When cooled, roughly chop the nuts to break up the sugar.

Make biscotti dough

Preheat your oven to 350°.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl.
Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time.
Stir in the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions.
Fold in the chocolate chips and the sugar-coated pine nuts.

Shape and bake

Divide the dough in two.
Roll each half into a log about 12 inches long and 2 inches wide and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Bake for 30 minutes. The logs will be slightly golden and firm.
Remove the logs from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Slice and second bake

Move the logs to a cutting board. Use a serrated knife to cut diagonally into ½-inch slices.
Place the slices cut side down onto the baking sheet.
Bake for an additional 10 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake for another 10 minutes. The cookies will be dry and crisp.
Let cool completely on a rack.

Clean hands using a serrated knife to slice the warm baked biscotti log diagonally into neat half-inch slices on a beautiful rustic walnut cutting board in a sun-drenched estate kitchen.

The full recipe lives in the Vault

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The Heart of the Table

There is a quiet, meditative joy in the ritual of making biscotti, a twice-baked culinary art that fills the estate kitchen with a deep, toasted aroma of caramelized sugars and nutty pine nuts. As the scent of rich butter, warm vanilla, and melting chocolate chips floats through the air, it creates an immediate sense of warmth and elegant hospitality. These crisp, golden biscuits, studded with toasted pine nuts and mini chocolate chips, are meant for slow, meaningful moments. Arrayed on a beautiful ceramic platter, they stand as a welcoming invitation for family and friends to pause, draw close, and savor the sweetness of good company.

Exactly eight young adult guests enjoying dessert, laughing, and dipping golden biscotti into warm cappuccino cups on a sun-drenched veranda overlooking a beautiful North Carolina autumn landscape of warm-colored foliage.

Neighborly Grace

THE PRESENTATION: Arrange these twice-baked biscotti in a radiating, fan-like pattern on a hand-thrown ceramic platter or an elegant silver tray, positioned alongside small bowls of extra caramelized pine nuts and shaved dark chocolate.
THE POUR: A warm cappuccino, a rich, double-shot espresso, or a sweet Italian Vin Santo. Dipping the biscotti into the warm foam of a cappuccino or the velvety sweetness of Vin Santo softens the crunch, releasing the deep butter and brown sugar notes beautifully.
THE VIBE: Crisp autumn afternoons on a sunlit veranda, intimate post-dinner dessert gatherings with close friends, or a peaceful morning coffee ritual listening to the rustling leaves of North Carolina foliage.

Chef’s Recommendations

The Glass to Dunk Into: Classic Sidecar
Chocolate Chips, Again: Chocolate Cookies with Wild Blueberry Sugar
The Other Cookie on the Tray: Pumpkin Spice Shortbread
What to Serve Them With: Chamomile Honey Ice Cream with a Peach Swirl

The Estate Table

Build tonight’s menu around this dish.

✦ Set the Table

Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips

Biscotti with Brown-Sugared Pine Nuts and Chocolate Chips

The full recipe lives in the Vault

The Heart of the Table

Neighborly Grace

✨ The Gilded Swaps