These biscotti are everything I want in a cookie. Slightly sweet, with bright orange flavor and chewy cranberries that complement the cookie crumb, perfect companions for coffee or tea. In under two hours, you can easily have a weeks’ worth of cookies to wake up to with your morning cup. They travel well, making them an excellent hostess gift or unexpected addition to a potluck brunch.
This recipe uses standard pantry ingredients, like all purpose baking flour and a neutral cooking oil of your choice. Baking these cookies twice with a fifteen-minute cooling period between bakes means it is not a cookie for instant gratification, more like a mostly hands off lengthy bake ensuring treats for the entire week.
I’ll admit I like a cookie with my coffee first thing on slower mornings. The base of this recipe is from my mother. Last fall I was fortunate to have my mom stay with us after I had our third baby, and every Sunday she would make a double batch of biscotti for us to enjoy in the mornings. Breastfeeding hunger is real, and it was so wonderful to wake up and have a little cookie with my coffee, an appetizer before my proper breakfast.
Storebought biscotti, you know the ones, are very crunchy and hard, perfect for dipping. These, you can customize. I find during the second bake the pieces towards the end reach this crunchy, dippable texture. The larger slices in the middle, while still firm, are slightly softer. These are my favorites for eating on their own, as well as for dipping.
Twice Bake Process
for the first bake, you shape the dough into a long, roughly 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. You shape the log on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
After baking to a nice golden brown pictured above, use a sharp chef’s knife or serrated knife to slice the biscotti to desired thickness. I like almost an inch thick. I find that at this stage they cookie is tender enough to use a chef’s knife, but I think my mom prefers a serrated. If you use a gentle hand, I am sure you could use a butter knife! Ultimately, use the knife you have.
It is worth noting that I did not like this particular cutting board. Pieces of the wood would flake off and if you cut an onion on it the scent lingered, even after through washing and scrub with salt and lemon.
ANYWAY. After slicing arrange the biscotti cut side up on a 9×13 baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, flip, and then bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until desired crunch has been achieved.
Allow the Biscotti to cool. then store in a plastic bag or other container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Delicious Cranberry Orange Biscotti
These satisfying twice baked biscotti are orange scented with tart chewy cranberries, perfect for your morning coffee or afternoon tea.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup neutral oil, like vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange zest (approximately zest of one orange)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and oil of your choice. Add eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest. Mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Gently mix in the dried cranberries.
Gently dump the dough onto the parchment paper and shape into a log that is around 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Pat so the log is ideally an even thickness, around an inch thick.
Bake in your preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden around the edges.
Remove from the oven and cool on the pan for 15 minutes.
Remove the cooled log from the pan and slice into even cookies, about 1 inch thick, or your desired thinness. Place cookies cut side up on the same prepared baking sheet you used before. Put the cookies back into the preheated oven and bake for another 5 to t0 minutes. Take the cookies sheet out of the oven, flip the cookies over so the other cut side is facing up, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven when they are done baking and cool. Once cooled, enjoy!
Keep cooled biscotti in an airtight container at room temperature for one week.
Notes
This recipe is easily adapted to make different flavors. Sub dark chocolate chips for the dried cranberries to create dark chocolate orange biscotti.
Omit the orange zest and change the mix ins to 1/4 cup cranberries and 1/4 cup sliced almonds for almond cranberries biscotti.
