biscotti

I was inspired to make biscotti from a friend who enjoys baking biscotti on his weekends. I have made biscotti many times, with many variations on flavour and consistency of the biscotti dough. For instance there are firm doughs, soft doughs and doughs that are so soft and airy that you need to pipe them through a piping bag. Anyways, for my experiment, I decided to pack as many ingredients and flavours into my biscotti that I had around the house. I did ended up with a biscotti that was jam packed fruits and nuts. I myself am personally a minimalist when it comes to flavours, but the biscotti seemed to hail good response from the party in which I brought these to. The high density of fruits and nuts make these biscotti a little finicky to cut. They are also not as crisp and crunchy as your regular biscotti as they have a higher ratio of filling to dough.

almond, pecan, pistachio, ginger, cranberry and orange biscotti

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup pistanchios
1/2 cup candied ginger finely cubed
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. toast nuts and set aside
2. cream butter, sugar and orange zest
3. add eggs and vanilla
4. add dry ingredients
5. at the end, add in nuts, candied ginger and dried cranberries
6. roll into 2 logs and chill for approximately 1 hour
7. bake at 350°F for approximately 20 - 25 minutes or until done
8. let biscotti cool for 10 minutes before slicing
9. dry out biscotti for 5-10 minutes at 300°F on each side for your desired crunchiness.

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