Since we were away last week, you get a shorter-than- usual post, one very similar to last Monday’s post, when we made the Parmesan, Almond, and Rosemary Biscotti. We’ll try to do better in the future.
We made these, along with the biscotti in last Monday’s post, for a church social coffee hour. It seemed appropriate to have biscotti with coffee. Plus, it’s a great way to try out a new flavor, without much additional effort. As it turns out, most biscotti seem to follow pretty much the same recipe, so we won’t go into a detailed post about how to make these; instead, we’ll just give you the abbreviated version and a couple of photos.
Cranberry and Walnut Biscotti
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (280 g)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 8 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature (1 stick or 114 g)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150 g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped (60 g)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped (55 g)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the cinnamon.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed until smooth and shiny, about 1 minute. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on medium until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly (about 1 minute) between additions, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add flour in two additions, pulsing the mixer to start, then running on low just until the flour is incorporated, about 15 seconds.
- Add walnuts and cranberries, pulsing to mix. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll each into a log about 1 inch in diameter (it's easiest to roll on a silicone baking mat).
- Transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving 3 inches of space between logs. Repeat with the remaining dough to make four logs total.
- Bake 40 minutes, rotating from front to back and top to bottom halfway through, or until golden brown and dough is set.
- Let cool 20 minutes.
- Reduce oven heat to 300°F.
- Slice each log diagonally into slices 1/2 inch thick. Place slices on baking sheets and return to oven.
- Bake 15 minutes, flip each slice, then bake another 15 minutes, or until dried. Let cool completely before transferring to an airtight container.
Ingredient discussion:
To toast the walnuts, simply place them in a small, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Toast, stirring very often until golden brown and the skins start to flake off, about 10 minutes. To stop the toasting, remove from the skillet.
Procedure in detail:
As we said above, this post is mainly pictures, but you know what they say about a picture.
These biscotti seemed more like traditional biscotti flavors than the Parmesan, Almond, and Rosemary biscotti, but we will say that the cranberry flavor didn’t really shine through the other flavors, most notably the cinnamon. Instead, the cranberries added a slightly chewy texture to the biscotti, which is nice, but more flavor would have helped. Next time we might decrease the amount of cinnamon to 1/4 teaspoon. Four stars.