Cranberry Almond Biscotti

These are more of a biscotti-shaped cookie than your traditional biscotti. Full of dried cranberries, almonds, and chopped vanilla chips, they make a very festive gift for the holidays.

Traditional biscotti are baked in logs, sliced, and baked again until they're hard, crunchy and perfect for dunking in coffee, tea or hot chocolate. I prefer my biscotti more like a regular cookie, so I just cut the second baking time way down so they're still soft, chewy, and--in my opinion--edible on their own!

They're not that much more work than regular cookies, but they make a very pretty presentation and they taste wonderful!

Step 1 Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
zest of one orange
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white baking chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4 cups sliced or slivered almonds

Put the butter and 3 eggs out on the counter about an hour before you're ready to begin to bring them to room temperature. This makes them easier to incorporate into the batter later on. I also set out my white baking chips so they'll be easier to chop up.

Comments

[cookinkim]

I made this recipe exactly how you wrote it and it is delicious. I made it to pass out for gifts, but found myself eating so much of it, I am going to have to make another batch!

At the end of baking, I prefer it a little on the crunchy side for dipping so I baked mine for 12 minutes, rather than the softer version.

Thanks for sharing this awsome recipe!

[portiapwnxyou]

These look great! But I have a question. If I intend to make these like the hard, crunchy Italian type, how can I adapt the recipe?

[annieoakley]

The only change is on the second baking: bake them for 15 minutes instead of 5 to get a traditional, crunchy biscotti.