A few years ago Mr. E and I went up to visit his parents in Wisconsin and the morning after we got there they surprised us with a selection of delicious Italian cookies and biscotti they had picked up from a local bakery.  That morning we sat in front of their big kitchen window, dunked the cookies and biscotti in our coffee and watched the wildlife in their back yard.  This has become a loved tradition and every time we visit them they have biscotti for us to enjoy in the mornings with our coffee.

Wanting to continue the tradition down here when they visit, but not having much luck finding a convenient bakery with good biscotti, I took to making my own.  I tried a few different recipes and found that I like biscotti that are crunchy but not super hard.  This recipe makes biscotti that are perfect for dunking, but not so crunchy that if you want a mid-afternoon snack they are too hard to eat alone.

This is quite an easy recipe but allow yourself some time to make these because prepping some of the ingredients may take longer than you think. (Halfway through I’m usually like “oh my gosh, I’m still not done” LOL, but I do make double batches because they get eaten quickly!)

One of the trickier steps is shaping the dough into logs because it is very sticky.  I’ve found that if I drop the dough onto the baking sheet in somewhat of a log shape, then keep my fingertips a little wet, it’s easier.

After baking the biscotti logs, they need to cool a little bit before slicing. I made the mistake once of letting them cool too long and had a crumbly mess when I tried cutting them. I was of course completely disappointed, however, Mr. E didn’t mind because he just sprinkled the crumbs on top of ice cream and made “mmmmmm” sounds. LOL  I have the most luck cutting the biscotti when I use a long, straight edged knife and press straight down as opposed to trying to cut with a serrated knife.

There are so many variations that can be made using this base recipe.  I’ve included just a few that are my favorite, but I hope that you will experiment as well!

On a side note, one of the ingredients listed below is Black Cherry Flavor candy oil.  I’ve purchased a few candy oils and flavor extracts through LorAnn Oils http://lorannoils.com/ and have been really happy with the flavor and quality.  I prefer the Black Cherry flavor to the regular Cherry flavor they sell, surprisingly there is a difference.

Biscotti Base

¼ cup light olive oil

¾ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1¾ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

 

Cranberry, Apricot and Pistachio

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

¾ cup slightly chopped pistachio

½ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup dried apricots chopped

¼ teaspoon dried orange peel (or orange zest)

 

Black Cherry Chocolate chip

1½ teaspoon almond extract

¾ teaspoon black cherry flavoring (candy oil)

¼ teaspoon orange peel or zest

5 tablespoons semi sweet mini topping morsels

 

Chocolate Chip Almond

2 teaspoons almond extract

¼ teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoon orange peel or zest

½ cup slivered almonds

5 tablespoons semi sweet mini topping morsels

 

Preheat oven to 300.  In a large bowl mix together oil and sugar until well blended.  Depending on which variety of biscotti, add the extracts, flavoring and/or orange peel, accordingly; mix well.  Add eggs and mix well.  In a separate bowl mix flour, salt and baking powder.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture; mixing well after each addition.  Add any fruit, nuts and/or chocolate chips if using and mix by hand.

 

On a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper, divide dough in two parts and form into logs about 12×2 inches.  Dough may be sticky; lightly wet finger tips to help form the dough.

 

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the biscotti logs are lightly browned.  Remove the biscotti logs from the oven, place on a cutting board, cover with a kitchen towel and let cool about 10 minutes.  Using a large knife carefully slice the logs on a diagonal, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide.  Lay the slices back on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet, sliced side down and bake an additional 8-10 minutes on each side until lightly browned and dried out a bit.

 

Enjoy!