CRANBERRY AND PISTACHIO BISCOTTI
Biscotti are wonderful for dunking into your Christmas morning coffee. Fruity and festive, these are perfect as they are, or try dipping them in chocolate with a sprinkle of freeze-dried fruit.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
1½ cups ground almonds
1 cup sugar
½ cup pistachios, or other nuts
½ cup dried cranberries
3 eggs
½ tsp vanilla essence
Grated zest of 1 orange
50g butter, melted and cooled slightly
Melted chocolate for dipping (optional)
Fresh As freeze-dried fruits for sprinkling (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir through the ground almonds, sugar, pistachios, and cranberries. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the vanilla and orange zest, then add the butter.
Add the egg mix into the dry ingredients and knead lightly to bring both together - the dough will be quite sticky. Divide it into 4 log shapes and slightly flatten the top of each one.
Place the logs onto the baking trays and bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden. Remove from the oven and, once cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to slice each log into 1cm thick pieces.
Spread the slices out across the oven trays and bake for a further 10 minutes. If you wish, dip the ends of each piece of biscotti in melted chocolate and sprinkle with some crushed Fresh As fruit or powder for that extra bit of extravagant goodness. Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.