Amazing Race Nutella Biscotti

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Being middle aged and not a tv watcher, I sometimes find myself a little out of touch.   As such, when rumor had it that Liv's dance choreographer had returned from a month-long adventure doing tv's Amazing Race, my mind immediately turned to food and dreams of exotic restaurants across the world.  Excited, I asked her, "So did you have any memorable meals??  What was your favorite?"

Obviously, I had never actually seen an episode of The Amazing Race, and Miss Abbie's comment of, "Well... we didn't really have time to enjoy any meals..." left me thinking, "Didn't she have time to eat??".

Yes, she did eat, but now that I have YouTubed two seasons of the reality show (can I mention here that I ❤  Mark and Bopper??), I have a better understanding of why she didn't have any memorable, in my way of thinking, meals.

For those of you out of the loop, The Amazing Race is a reality tv show which follows some 11 teams as they race around the world while facing some amazing physical as well as mental challenges.  Through a process of weekly eliminations, the final team wins the race.

According to a press release from CBS, "Teams will travel through three continents, nine countries and cover more than 25,000 miles, where they'll be faced with a 10-story rappel in Los Angeles, frying an egg on their heads in Indonesia, working as 'rat collectors' in Bangladesh and revisiting one of the Race's most infamous Roadblocks in the Netherlands in this season's Switchback."

Frying an egg on their heads in Indonesia??  Somehow that wasn't what I was thinking when I asked about memorable meals...



Meet Abbie & Ryan - Team Dark Green
A favorite choreographer of Liv's from her dance team, I'm eager to follow Abbie and her teammate, Ryan, on the show.  Following the rules of the show to a "T", Abbie has not given us a single clue as to how she fared in the competition, but if I had to make a guess, I'd put my money on her going pretty darn far, if not all the way.

Sample of Miss Abbie's choreography & costumes

A role model at Liv's dance studio, Abbie exemplifies talent, stamina, and a healthy competitive spirit. She challenges the girls to accomplish their best on a daily basis, not only in dance but in life in general.  And indeed, she often pulls that best out of them.

Remember "The Boots??".  Yep... she's the one that had me working all those hours painting, repainting and embellishing boots that she had turned into tap shoes for one of last year's numbers.  At the time, us dance moms were all asking, "What is she thinking???".  But then we saw the boots on stage, and we knew whatever she was thinking, it was awesome.

And speaking of awesome, our Nutella Biscotti is pretty darn awesome too.  Amazing, I might even say.

Originally made for a dance function last year, Miss Abbie was seen returning to the biscotti basket more than once (actually, I think it was something like 4 times...) along with the rest of the team members.  These Nutella Biscotti have become somewhat of a team tradition over the last year with numerous girls asking for the recipe as well as special birthday batches.

Nutella Biscotti is the perfect afternoon snack even if you are not running the Amazing Race...

As it seems Miss Abbie's memorable Amazing Race meals may include frying those eggs on her head, I'm thinking that if she had stashed a few of these beauties into her pockets as she navigated those foreign streets, she may have had at least a snack to remember fondly.

Tune in this Sunday, September 30, 2012 for the premier episode of Season 21 of The Amazing Race.  We'll be rooting for team dark green...
Go Abbie & Ryan!!

Abbie and Ryan, photo courtesy of The Amazing Race

Amazing Race Nutella Biscotti
adapted from Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures
Printer Friendly While Susi's recipe includes Pistachios and a delightful glaze, I removed the nuts due to possible nut allergies at our event and didn't glaze due to portability.  Substituting chocolate chips for the nuts, the glaze wasn't missed, though I'm certain it would make these biscotti even more amazing.
3 large eggs1 egg yolk
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup + 2 Tbs Nutella**
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder1 cup (Liv has been known to add more!) chocolate chips
1 egg whiteraw sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs, 1 egg yolk  and 1 cup granulated sugar until well mixed.  Add 3/4 cup + 2 Tbs (or a scant 1 cup for easier measuring) Nutella and mix well.  Gently stir in flour, salt and baking powder and chocolate chips.

Divide dough into 3 equal portions and form into 3 10-12 inch logs on the prepared baking sheets. Brush logs with remaining egg white and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon raw sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating baking sheet once after 15 minutes to ensure even baking.

Remove the biscotti from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs  into 1/2-inch (or slightly smaller if desired) slices.  Transfer the cookies back to the prepared baking sheet and stand them up... sort of like cutting the log into slices, then just spreading out the slices, but not laying them on their side.Reduce the oven temperature to 300º and bake the biscotti for another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the biscotti onto a wire rack for cooling.  Note that the cookies will crisp as they cool.Store in an airtight container for up to a week... though I can't vouch for the freshness at that point as ours never lasted more than a few days.

Liv Life Note:  When baking, I'm not always one to measure my ingredients (much to my Mother's horror) and the first time I made this recipe I did not read it all the way through... Susi calls for "1 cup of Nutella, divided.  My first batch used the entire 1 cup in the recipe and it turned out wonderfully.  In my past few batches I haven't even bothered to measure the Nutella, and have just eyeballed the amount.  They have all been successful!  Hence I increased her original measurement by 2 Tbs...