Almond and Lemon Biscotti

I was craving some biscotti so I decided to make some. This is Giada's recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (not all recipes call for cornmeal but my mom says it's what keeps these soft on the inside)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons grated lemon zest (from about 3 to 4 lemons)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped whole almonds


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In another large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixture until pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Mix in the lemon zest and then the flour, and beat until just blended. (The dough will be sticky). Stir in the almonds. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough evenly into 2 equal mounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. With moist hands, space the dough evenly apart and form into 2 (9 by-3-inch) logs. Bake for 35 minutes until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick diagonal slices. Arrange the biscotti cut side down on the same baking sheet. Bake until the cookies are pale golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.

Notes: As the recipe mentions, the dough was really sticky put keeping your hands wet keeps the dough from sticking to you. I burnt these guys a little and I think its because my stove thermometer is off (it's not even digital) and my baking pans are not good. The original recipe says to dip them in chocolate but I hate cleaning that up and I don't have a wire rack for them to cool on so I just added chocolate chips to the recipe. 

Chopping the almonds was the worst. I did it by knife on the cutting board. Next time I think I'll throw them into a bag and smash them.