Expert: Elyse Grau - 8/21/2009

Question
Do you know anything about biscotti?
Well I have a question, if you do!

I made this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Biscotti/Detail.aspx

The only thing, I substituted pecans instead of almonds (I much prefer almonds but I only have pecans.)

The problem was after the first baking of the loaf. After it cooled, I went to cut it into the pieces so it could bake for the second time, and it completely crumbled. :(

I ended up with a lot of little chunks of biscotti rather than neatly cut pieces!

What would cause this?

PS: The biscotti still came out very tasty even if it wasn't quite in the correct shape.

Answer
Kayla:
My guess is that it was the pecans. They have more oil than almonds, which would make a more tender or flaky dough. Which with cookies translates to crumbly. There is also the possibility of the wrong type of cocoa. Did you use natural, on non-alkalized? Using Dutch-processed cocoa could change the texture, though I would expect it to be soft rather than crumbly. Just thought I'd throw that out there, anyway.

Elyse

PS. I'm glad you didn't throw the batch out. Biscotti are always wonderful, even in pieces!