Craisins and White Chocolate Biscotti

Did you know that the least calorific cookies are Biscottis? For those who do not know what these are Biscotti is twice baked italian cookie. There isn't anything that is fancy about it except that it is not soft or chewy like other regular cookies. These are a little hard, long cookies. Texture wise, these are pretty close to tea rusk I should say. We used to buy a lot of Nonni's biscotti boxes long time back. These biscottis were/are my husband's favorite snack. Then I started making my own biscottis for couple of years now. These make these always come out great and can be varied to get different flavors. Do read the notes. Recipe is adapted from here.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs - 2 large or extra large
Olive oil or any other oil - 1/4 cup or 4 TBSP
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla - 2 tsp
Sweetened dried cranberries (Craisins) - 1 cup (You can use raisins in its place or chopped dates)
White chocolate chips - 1 cup

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. In another bowl, beat eggs and olive oil till combined. Mix in the vanilla. Add the liquid to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Use your hands to make the dough. It will be a little sticky. Divide the dough and place the dough like a log on the baking sheet. Wet your hands and shape it into 12 inches by 2 - 2 1/2" long log. You will have two of this sized logs. If your baking sheet is very small, use two so that the logs are not touching each other. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or till pale golden in color.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool down a bit. Lower the oven temperature to 275 F. When the baked block has cooled enough so that when you cut it will not crumble, take a knife (not serrated) and slice them about 3/4" thick. A thing to note is not to use the saw motion. Use your weight to cut the block. Almost all recipes tell you to cut them diagonally. This is just to give you a longer biscotti. I didn't want them to be bigger and I cut them straight. Place them cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or till they are dry. Don't try to make them very hard since they will get a little harder once they cool down. When completely cool, store in an air tight container. This can be stored at room temperature for a week. Or freeze for up to 3 months. Serve with milk, coffee or tea.

Notes:
Use your favorite nuts in place of white chocolate chips. Use semi sweet chocolate chips and walnuts as a combination. Use almond extract and replace 1/2 cup of flour with cocoa to get chocolate biscotti.

Happy Baking!! Pin It