lemon pineapple biscotti

these things have tortured me since sunday night, when the idea of lemon-pineapple biscotti first occured. first thing monday morning i rush to trader joe's, but they had no pineapple (and no hazelnuts, incidentally, which i needed for another project) and as there was no time to go to a different store they had to wait until today. or, i had to wait, and i don't do patient. not with a craving the size of montana.

it was a rough night, but here we are. zhara got very excited at the prospect of cookies, and she yelled 'me too' after every single gesture of mine. not to mention i had to measure the pineapple three times cause some of it kept dissapearing. (one mangled piece mysterioulsy reappeared in her hair.)
this recipe is featured in the recipe booklet that came with my food processor. the other morning i was de-junking my flyer drawer when i found the booklet. it's been sitting there for the past two years. there's more to come from it, a great little recipe for banana bread. anyhoo, this biscotti recipe originally had a lot more sugar and ginger, which i don't particularly enjoy, but i loved the lemon part so i started from there.

3 oz or 87 gr white chocolate
2 oz or 58 gr crystallized pineapple
12 oz or 2 1/2 cups or 345 gr all-purpose flour
2 ts or 10 gr baking powder
1/4 ts salt
zest of 3 lemons
3/4 cup or 158 gr sugar
1/2 cup or 113 gr unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs
1 tb brandy or grand marnier
1 tb vanilla extract

preheat oven to 325F or 160C.
chop chocolate so no piece is larger than 1/4 inch. if you have chips you're all set. do the same for the pineapple and reserve. sift together flour, salt and baking powder and reserve. using a vegetable peeler remove the zest from the three lemons in strips. process the zest with 1/4 cup of the sugar until minced. add the remaining sugar and the butter and process until smooth. the mixture may look curdled. with the processor running, add the eggs one at a time. and the grand marnier or brandy and the vanilla. scrape the bowl. add the flour, chopped chocolate and pineapple and process to incorporate. turn out to a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. the dough will be rather sticky, be sure to flour your hands too. (when zhara saw this, she started again with the me toos, so i pulled the salt dough and talked sweetly about her having her own work station on the other counter. really i was thinking i'd rather be dragged around by wild horses than let her schmear that stuff all over the kitchen. cooks with toddlers, be warned.)

so once you have it into a ball, divide in two and shape into logs. you can make them as wide as you like, they won't spread too much. they will rise to about double. put them on ungreased sheets bake for 22 minutes. remove from the oven, let them sit for 5-10 minutes or until you can handle them, and slice using a serrated knife. place them back on the sheets, cut side up, and bake another 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them. 20 was plenty for me. when you take them out they will still be kinda soft, but that's no indication. they will harden as they cool. once they're cooled you can drizzle more chocolate on top, they really are not that sweet and can easily afford another layer. store airtight for 6 weeks. they freeze well, too. they're my number one cookie.

later update: it's been 36 hours since they're out of the oven. they're firm, no doubt, but not hard. they don't really stand up to repeated dunking. it suits me fine cause zhara has taken quite the liking to them, but if you like yours good and sturdy consider adding 1/4 cup fine cornmeal when you mix in the flour. that way you'll get more crunch.