Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Biscotti have always been our favourite tea time snack to go with our favourite cup of coffee. Another reason for loving biscotti is that these biscotti are lower in fat than other cookies/ muffins as they do not contain butter/oil. Hubby just loves the eggy taste in the biscotti.

Back in January, I baked Cranberry Walnut Biscotti. In February, I baked Cranberry Cashew Biscotti. Baking biscotti seems to become a monthly affair for me.

For this month, I am going to bake Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. I just found out from a Canadian friend that they love to bake biscotti as an alternative to all other rich baked goods during the Christmas season. For Christmas, bakers love to use cranberry and pistachio in their biscotti for the nice colour combination. For hubby and I, we do not mind the type of nuts that go into the biscotti as we enjoy the texture of biscotti, crispy and crunchy.

Despite some biscotti recipes use oil/butter, the true original Italian biscotti do not consist this ingredient. The binding factor should come from eggs instead!

The recipe for this biscotti comes from Joy Of Baking.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) shelled, unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (75 grams) dried cranberries or cherries

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine sugar and eggs and mix until thick, pale and fluffy texture is obtained. (When you slowly raise the spoon, the batter will fall back into the blow in slow ribbons). At this point beat in vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whish together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until combined.
5. Fold in the chopped pistachios and cranberries.
6. Turn out dough onto parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log about 12 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide.
7. You may have to dampen your hands to form the log as the dough is quite sticky.
8. Put in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden firm to touch.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
10. Cut on diagonal with serrated knife into 3/4 inch thick slices. Never use a bread knife to cut.
11. Place the biscotti, cut side down on the baking sheet.
12. Bake for another 10 minutes, turn slices over and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

This recipe makes about 16-20 biscotti. Overall, the biscotti texture is good and still taste eggy. However, between the 3 biscotti recipes that I have tried, I still prefer the Cranberry Cashew Biscotti recipe for the lemony taste as well as the texture of it.

Biscotti have a long shelf life and thus, it can be made well ahead of time for any occasions. It can be a perfect Christmas gift as well.