Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

These cranberry pistachio biscotti are crunchy, but not rock-hard and oh-so-delicious dunked in your morning java! Perfect for Christmas cookie care packages too.

Every year, I start my holiday cookie baking with biscotti. These twice-baked Italian cookies are especially great dunked in hot coffee, or tea, or better yet in hot chai latte! Dunking is a must.

Imagine this perfect fall morning… steaming hot coffee, flavored with pumpkin spice cream… and couple jumbo biscotti. Sip, dunk and eat. Sip, dunk and eat. With some Christmas music on the background… Mornings can’t get any better than this! Unless you have one these, of course.

These biscotti cookies, you see here, are the third batch I made this season. THIRD!!

A few weeks ago, Lindsay from Pinch of Yum shared her whole-wheat cranberry dark chocolate biscotti. They looked incredibly good and I had to hunt down some fresh cranberries asap to jump start the cookie season. Her biscotti have no processed sugar, made with whole-wheat flour, unsweetened dark chocolate and raw honey. I loved it! Crunchy, not-so-sweet wholesome biscotti heaven, you guys! You won’t feel guilty even if you ate 3 of them in one sitting. My sweet-toothed husband, on other hand, wasn’t a big fan, yet he had two (go figure)!

Inspired by Lindsay’s cranberry biscotti, I made my not as healthy, but equally delicious version of these twice-baked cookies. Just look at those tiny red specks of cranberries all over, spreading joyful holiday vibes! You feel it?

I’m telling ya, I’m totally obsessed with cranberries lately!

It takes only minutes to prep the cookie batter. Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients and flavorings. Done and done. The batter is rather sticky, so dusting some flour is a must here. My silicone dough scraper was quite handy, but any silicone spatula will work great too. A word of caution: be careful not to dust too much flour, or your biscotti will become heavy and dense.

The main characteristic of this type of cookies is the long baking time, because we’re baking it twice (hence the name, twice-baked cookies).

This method ensures those crunchy biscotti that we all love. Butter plays a huge role in this recipe. It adds nice and rich flavor to the cookies, and also creates softer, not rock-hard, yet still dunkable (<- legit word!) biscotti.

Baking these cookies twice also draws all the moisture out, therefore extends their shelf life. If you like your biscotti on a softer side, bake the cookies for only 10 minutes on the second round.

It’s also important to cool the cookies completely before storing them in airtight container. The biscotti will keep well in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

White chocolate drizzle adds such glamour to these cookies. It’s totally optional, but who can say no to extra sweetness and fancy look? Not me!

Overall, biscotti are sturdy and dry cookies that travel pretty well. So, if you’re planning to ship cookie care packages to your friends and family this coming holiday season, consider making some biscotti.

Let me know what is your all-time favorite cookie in the comments below. I love reading your comments.

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Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

These cranberry pistachio biscotti are crunchy, but not rock-hard and oh-so-delicious dunked in your morning java! Perfect for Christmas cookie care packages too.

Yield: About 17 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (100gr) fresh cranberries
• ½ cup (60gr) roasted and shelled pistachios
• ¼ cup (55gr) unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup (130gr) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups (250gr) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (85gr) white chocolate chips, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper or silicone mat.
2. In the food processor, pulse the cranberries a few times. Coarsely chop the pistachios. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, or using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well combined, another 2 or so minutes. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix just until well combined. The dough will be pretty sticky at this point. Add cranberries and pistachios.
4. Sprinkle some flour on the prepared baking sheet. Transfer the dough onto the floured baking sheet using a silicone spatula. Form into about 11×3.5inch (28x9cm) log. Since the dough is quite sticky, flour your hands. Baked for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Using a serrated knife cut the loaf, while it’s still warm, into ¾ inch (2cm) thick slices. Place them back on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. For extra crunch, flip them and bake for another 10 minutes.
5. If desired, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler until smooth, stirring frequently. Transfer the melted chocolate to the pastry bag with small round tip (I used Wilton #7), or zip-lock bag with small hole cut in the corner, and drizzle over the biscotti.
6. The biscotti will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

For step-by-step photos and additional notes, read the post above.

All images and text ©Shinee D. for Sweet & Savory

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