This Cranberry-Almond Biscotti has a subtle balance of citrus, a little bit of chew from dried cranberries and the crunch of almonds. If you want to go the extra mile, dip them in a little white or dark chocolate. I especially love these with a cup of my morning coffee. These also make great holiday gifts. Making your own biscotti, at home, is easier than you might think.
I’ve never made biscotti, and I’m amazed at how easy they are to make. I even dipped these in chocolate and packed them away until I could wrap them in gift bags and ribbon, for my coworkers.
Apparently, both my son and husband loved these as well. Let’s just say that the “kitchen mice” got into them. They pouted when I gave what they hadn’t eaten away– and they had barely left me enough to package as gifts. So, I made more. Just for them. Well, I like these too. A lot.
The dry ingredients are flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Room temperature unsalted butter and eggs bind it all together. (Why are my eggs soaking in water? It’s my shortcut for bringing refrigerator cold eggs to room temp– I soak them in hot tap water.) To flavor this biscotti, you need a little orange and lemon zest.
Here are the few of the extracts that I use for baking. I am really fond of the fiori di sicilia extract. This has notes of vanilla and citrus, and I use it a lot. I decided to try their Pure Orange oil and lemon oil (not to be confused with extract). Sometimes, I just don’t have a fresh orange or lemon on hand, so I wanted to see how I liked using these products. These are very concentrated, so I added less than 1/8 teaspoon of the citrus oils and about 1/2 teaspoon of the fiori di sicilia.
Begin by creaming the soften butter and sugar until fluffy– about 3 minutes.
Cranberry-Almond Biscotti
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1-stick , , room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest grated (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest grated (see notes)
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sliced almonds or pistachios
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 12 ounces dark or white chocolate for dipping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using stand mixer (or a hand-held mixer), beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to mix, then add the lemon and orange zest until blended.
- Add about 1/3 of the flour, on low speed.
- Add the nuts and cranberries and then add more of the dry ingredients, a little at a time.
- Form the dough into a long, wide log on the prepared baking sheet. (Wet hands makes this less sticky to do.)
- Bake until light golden, about 40 minutes.
- Place the log on the cutting board. Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices.
- Note: I found that cutting straight down, rather than sawing, made for less crumbs or broken slices.
- Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.
- Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
- Note: I baked mine at 325°F and turned them over after 7 minutes. My biscotti turned the way I prefer them to be—lightly golden, lightly crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. If you prefer yours to be hard and crunchy, bake at 350°F.
Dip in chocolate:
- To make tempered chocolate, chop about 2 cups of the chocolate into pieces (or chocolate chip Morsels) and place 3/4 of it in a small glass bowl in a microwave for 20 seconds exactly.
- Stir the chocolate and continue to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and shiny.
- Add the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate and stir until smooth. The chocolate should register 87 to 89°F on a candy thermometer. (per Ina Garten).
- Submerge half of the biscotti (rather than one end, so you can get chocolate in each bite) into the melted chocolate. Gently shake off the excess chocolate.
- Place the biscotti on the baking sheet (chocolate side up) for the chocolate to set.
- Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes. Or, in our case, eat them immediately and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
I've never made biscotti before, but I've been wanting to make it for quite some time. They look so delicious, I love the cranberry-almond flavors and the citrus also. Thanks for the great recipe, have a happy new year 🙂
this looks so delicious
I love using cranberries in biscotti, especially around the holidays. Happy New Year.
I do love Biscotti and I haven't had any in a while. This looks really good. Pat
Biscotti are so much fun to make and really are shockingly easy! Love this flavor combination…I can see why your boys plowed through them so quickly!
Happy New Year!
The biscotti look great! Fiori di Sicilia is the best, isn't it? Happy Baking in the New Year! ~Mel