When the mood strikes, bake biscotti

I was itching to bake last weekend, but didn't feel like going out to the store for any ingredients. So I scoured my baking cabinet and flipped through recipes until inspiration hit: biscotti.

The ingredients are ones I always have: vegetable oil, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, almond extract and vanilla extract -- plus whatever you want to throw on top for fun. I had some chocolate chips and pecans left over from other baking expeditions, so I decided I'd make half with chocolate chips and half with chopped up pecans.

The first time I made this biscotti was when I was traveling to Ocean City, MD last summer for a weeklong beach vacation with my husband's family. I wanted to make a snack we could enjoy all week for breakfast or whenever the mood struck (and one that could endure a full day of traveling). It was really very easy - a lot easier than I imagined biscotti would be - and it was really good. I haven't made it since then (which is quite silly!), so Mike was rather excited to learn that I was whipping up a batch.

You can grab the recipe in my original post, here. But since I didn't have great pictures then, here are a few. This is what it looks like after you've formed the dough and stuck the toppings on, before sticking it into the oven:


You just pull them out after about 25 minutes, cut them into strips with a pizza cutter, and flip them on their sides (as you can see, I ran out of room, so I had to throw a second cookie sheet into the mix):


Back into the oven to toast them for 6 minutes on each side, and they come out looking all pretty:


I brought them into work, and several people told me it was the best biscotti they'd ever had! I love this recipe because it's so versatile. I'd like to try them with cranberries, pistachios or with the chocolate melted and drizzled over top.