25 Days of Cookies: Cranberry-Lemon-Almond Biscotti

Happy December!

This is my favorite time of the year and even though it seems harder this year to be merry, I am going to do everything I can to maintain the spirit of Christmas. I’m going to be BAD! Yes, you read that correctly! I’m going to Bake, keep a positive Attitude, and Decorate.

And since this is where I share all my food inspiration and recipes, I’ll be endeavoring to bake every day for next 25 days! 25 Days of Cookies!

This time of the year means homemade biscotti. The best way to have biscotti in my humble opinion. It was a few years ago when we first tried making biscotti at home after watching an episode of Everyday Italian on Food Network. While we loved Giada’s Holiday Biscotti recipe, many of our friends and family members were not too excited about the combination of cranberries, lemon, and pistachios. (It’s delicious, I assure you.) Since making it that first time, I’ve felt free to swap ingredients for other ingredients. I’ve made cranberry orange biscotti with dark chocolate drizzle, chocolate chip and almond, chocolate chocolate chocolate…the list goes on. :)

But for today, to kick start the 25 Days of Cookies, I’m going to share my simplest swap recipe that stays very traditional but not as scary as pistachios.

Cranberry-Lemon-Almond Biscotti with White Chocolate Drizzle

 Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis’s Holiday Biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup sugar

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

¼ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup almonds, coarsely chopped [I used a small electric chopper for this part. Less mess.]

2/3 cup dried cranberries [Craisins]

2 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast your almonds. [Important because it enhances their flavor.] Do this by pouring into a dry pan on the stove over medium heat. Keep an eye on them. Everyone on tv says you’ll know they’re done because you can smell them. I don’t have a good sense of smell so I can’t detect the difference. I suggest eating an untoasted almond then after a minute or two on the stove eat another one. The flavor pops more after they’ve been on the stove for a couple minutes. [They can burn if you don’t keep an eye on them!] 

In a medium bowl, mix your flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream your sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add the lemon zest. [It’s about the amount of zest from half a lemon.] Add eggs one at a time.

Combine your dry ingredients and wet ingredients until just mixed.

Add almonds and dried cranberries and mix with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. [The dough is heavy and sticky, not an easy mixing process.]

Transfer the dough, in a ball, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. This is where you get to pretend you’re a kid with playdough. Form a 3in wide log about 13in long. It’s a little tricky if your dough keeps sticking to your hands so just use a little flour to powder them. [Silicone mats are fairly inexpensive and great for this kind of cookie because they stay put whereas parchment paper or wax paper slide around during the process.]

Bake for 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.

Biscotti, as you may have heard, means twice baked. Here comes the second baking step:

On a diagonal angle, slice the cookie log [about an inch/slice].

Eat the heels. Mmmm :)

 Line your baking sheet with the cookie slices on their sides. Bake for 15 minutes.

After they’ve completely cooled on a wire rack, get your chocolate ready.

I used Wilton white chocolate candy melts.

Why? They work really really well! If you’ve ever tried melting white chocolate and ended up with lumpy, crumbly, and slightly browned gunk, you’ve been another victim of burned white chocolate likely because it’s not the best quality. I have done this with all different brands of white chocolate chips and I haven’t only done it in the microwave but over the double boiler too! It’s dreadfully annoying.

 Solution? Wilton candy melts. (Available at Michael's Craft Store.) My sister bought a bunch of these when she made cake pops and I decided to give them a try. Put them in a regular plastic sandwich bag, zip, and melt in the microwave on the defrost setting. Every 30 seconds, give the chocolate a little kneading. It took two minutes and it melted perfectly!

Snip a tiny (almost miniscule!) corner off the bag and use the bag to pipe chocolate drizzles over your biscotti! Discard the bag when you’re done!

Seriously, it might sound like a long process, but making the dough takes 10 minutes and then you’re free to do other things for the next 40 minutes during the first oven step.

These are completely worth it and you’ll never want store bought biscotti again!