chocolate almond biscotti

When I think of biscotti, I think of hard, inedible, stale cookies. I'm afraid that if I ever ate the biscotti I see in coffeeshops, I would crack a tooth. I really don't find biscotti appealing, and though (I believe) the idea is that you're supposed to dip it in your coffee, that makes it even less appealing. 

You're probably wondering why I bothered to bake biscotti, but this biscotti is different. Trust me.  

Drew's mom is an avid baker, and if memory serves me correctly, on my first visit to meet his family, among the array of baked goods was biscotti. I almost passed it up, but Drew practically inhaled it, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. I'm glad I did. This biscotti was definitely not hard, crunchy, or stale. It was really, really good, and I too began inhaling it. In fact, I believe that Drew mom's baked us another batch.

I usually bake on Sundays, but I was indecisive last Sunday and couldn't decide what to bake, so I let Drew decide (sometimes I poll him for input but he doesn't make the decision unilaterally because I usually have some ideas) and he decided that he wanted chocolate almond biscotti. It seemed fitting that I bake something from his mom's repertoire on Mother's Day. 

I packed the biscotti with chopped almonds and chocolate chips, which was simultaneously a good and bad idea. It made it difficult to slice after the first bake- I began slicing it too quickly and it crumbled, and I unleashed  a string of profanities- but the almonds and chocolate are what makes the biscotti so good.