Home-made and full of the festive colours, Pistachio, Cranberry and Orange Biscotti are delicious, quick to bake and make a wonderful gift.
Casting an eye through the baking recipes I’ve posted here over the years, I can’t believe that I’ve never shared a biscotti recipe! They’re simple to make, and I love baking them, especially to give as gifts and, with their festive colours, Pistachio, Cranberry and Orange Biscotti are an all-time Christmas favourite.
We’re getting to the pointy end of Christmas preparations now, when time starts racing away from us, leaving us wondering how on earth we’re going to get everything done. This is where a recipe like this really shines.
These Pistachio, Cranberry and Orange biscotti make the perfect gift – they’re delicious, quick to prepare, require no special baking skills, use ingredients that are easy to get hold of in your local supermarket and, best of all, they keep for ages. You can make a batch of these, pop them in an airtight container and know that you’re not going to get caught out without a gift for unexpected visitors.
Twice-baked, chunky and quite dry, biscotti are as versatile as they come and are made to be dunked, so I serve them with tea, coffee or a sweet dessert wine.
In the event that you don’t manage to give them all away, they make the ideal late Boxing Day breakfast (because fruit, so healthy), along with a chilled glass of something fizzy – and I’m not talking lemonade, guys.
This recipe makes quite a sizeable batch of Pistachio, Cranberry and Orange biscotti, so get baking – and let me know how you go. I love hearing how you get on with my recipes. 🙂
Pistachio, Cranberry and Orange Biscotti
Ingredients
- 500 gms plain flour
- 250 gms caster sugar
- 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 150 gms pistachios, shelled
- 150 gms dried cranberries (craisins)
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 orange, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp Cointreau
Instructions
- Heat oven to 180C, and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Combine all the dry ingredients, plus the orange zest, in a large bowl. Mix well with a balloon whisk to distribute evenly.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs, orange juice and Cointreau, then mix until it comes together, using wet hands to form a stiff dough. If it's too dry, add a little more juice.
- Divide the mixture into 4, forming each piece into a 20 cm log, place on the baking sheets, well spaced, and pat down to flatten a little.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown, then remove from oven and allow to cool just a little, until you can handle them. Using a serrated bread knife, slice each log into 1.5cm slices and spread out evenly on the trays.
- Return to the oven and bake a further 10 minutes, turning each slice over halfway through. Do not allow them to brown any further, so turn the oven down a little if necessary.
- Once done, cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
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Thank you Amanda for this recipe. I had to make it even though I had completed my Christmas baking! As such I didn’t have any pistachios left so used macadamia nuts instead. I found the mix a little wet which made it difficult to handle, so I added a little coconut to roll the portions, this seemed to work ok. The test now will be in the tasting but they certainly look good!
Biscotti is still on my baking list for this Christmas and yours reminds me of a previous one I have made so I will give it a go. I am used to slicing them fairly thin though, what do you think? I notice though that yours are quite thick so obviously that works as well. Thanks so much and Merry Christmas, Pauline x
Mine are a little chunky – I was impatient with the slicing as I was in a hurry to get them baked so I could photograph them. However, you don’t want them too thin or they’ll be brittle and disintegrate when dunked. You need a sturdy dunker!
I guess that just shows how variable flours and baking conditions can be – I had to add juice as my dough was a little dry.
Thanks Amanda. It’s cooler here today and I have these in the oven.
I hope you enjoy them!
Yum! Have a safe and peaceful Christmas, my friend.