Cranberry Almond Whole Wheat Biscotti

I had never been a fan of hard, dry, crunchy cookies, but recently some not so rock-hard types started to grow on me. In fact, I became addicted to this particular iced taralli. Taralli is an Italian crunchy pretzel-like biscuits, which can be either savory or sweet.

I had been wanting to try baking biscotti for quite some time now, and today given that I was in a baking mood and had only 5 minutes between things I needed to do, biscotti fit the bill. It would have taken only 3 minutes and 35 seconds to put together, but I missed the floured hands bit of the recipe, and thus they were in quite a sticky situation. But licking the excess dough off your fingers is also a fun part of making cookies, so I wasn't complaining too much...


I shortened the time of the second baking as I didn't want super hard super crunchy biscotti, and they turned out just the way I like them to be. I am so pleased with them! 5 out of 5 stars for being delicious, easy and quick to make, good for your health, and store well. And now that I blog, a bonus star for being so photogenic too. :-)

I am already dreaming of my next batches with different combinations; cashews and dried apricots, hazelnuts and dried bananas, ginger and raisins, white chocolate and macadamia nuts. And not so traditional ones, lemon poppyseeds. I think I will be making lots of biscotti!

Cranberry Almond Whole Wheat Biscotti Recipe

Ingredients :
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/4 dried cranberries
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions :
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Mix together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix in the nuts and fruit.
3. Whisk together eggs and the extracts. Add to flour mixture, stir until combined.
4. With floured hands, shape dough into a loaf about 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide. Transfer to the baking sheet.
5. Bake until risen and firm, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
6. Let the loaf cool about 10 minutes on a cutting board, then cut diagonally into 1/2" slices.
7. Arrange slices cut-side down and bake 10 minutes, then turn the slices over and bake until dried, about 10 more minutes.
8. Let cool on wire rack.

Bon appetit!