Chocolate Almond Biscotti with Cherries

I've made biscotti a couple of times before, but usually it's for a pretty specific occasion.  Where I live is transitioning between summer and fall now and somehow biscotti sounded good.  The combination of chewy cherries with crunchy almonds with crumbly biscotti dough, I think, is a good one and the chocolate is really just the icing on the cake.  The cookies are good on their own, but they are made for dunking in coffee or milk so plan your enjoyment accordingly.

Makes about 25 cookie slices

3/4 cup whole almonds
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup dried cherries
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks if a bar
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar

1. Toast almonds in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes or at high power in a microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. In bowl of electric mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until combined.  Add extracts and eggs, then beat well.  Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder. This will create a thick, sticky batter.  Using a sturdy spatula, fold in almonds, chocolate, and cherries.  Distribute ingredients as best you can.
3. On a floured surface, turn out batter.  Knead a few times to decrease the stickiness and to distribute the whole ingredients fully.  Divide dough in half and form each half into a log that is about 10 inches long.
4. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place each dough log on the parchment paper, spacing so they are about 3 inches apart.  In a measuring cup or small glass, beat the 1 egg until frothy.  Brush egg over dough logs using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle logs with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
5. Bake logs for about 25-30 minutes or until they are golden and firm.  Pull parchment paper off the cookie sheet and transfer it to a cooling rack.  Allow logs to cool until they are warm and you can handle them easily, about 20-30 minutes.
6.  While your logs are cooling, fit the cookie sheet you were using with a cooling rack that can go in the oven.  Set aside.
7.  Remove cookie log from the parchment paper to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut logs at an angle into 3/4 inch slices.  Each log will make about a dozen slices.  Place cookie slices on the cooling rack you placed on the cookie sheet.  Cookies can touch because they won't change shape at all.  Once you have cut one log and placed it on the rack in the cookie sheet, cut the other log in the same manner.
8. Bake cookie slices in a 300 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Cookies will get slightly more brown on the edges, but you will know they are done when they don't give as you poke them.  Leave cookies on the rack in the cookie sheet to cool completely.  Moisture is the enemy of biscotti, so store it in an airtight container for up to a week.