My first attempt at Biscotti

I don’t recall when I made the life transition from thinking of biscotti as a dry and dull unappetizing biscuit to thinking of biscotti as one of life’s true pleasures that should be savored as frequently as possible. 

Thank god for maturing palates. 

Biscotti now holds a special special place in my heart, and I would eat it every day if it didn’t hurt my teeth so much.

A while back, I decided to try and make biscotti on my own via this recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti.  I headed to the local grocery store to buy up the necessary goods, and much to my dismay I found pistachios to be outrageously expensive.  $10 a  bag?!?  Come ON!  Then I noticed that the pistachios with the shells still on them were nearly half the price, so of course I scooped them up. 

How hard could it be to crack a few shells? 

About 45 minutes into my shell husking I was beginning to seriously doubt my frugal decision. …

Seriously… 

How many freaking pistachios does it take to get 3/4 of a cup???

When I finally had my 3/4 cup pistachios and my fingers were aching from all the husking, I mixed the following together in a bowl:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon orange extract

Then I beat in 1 egg and combined the following in another bowl:

• 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

I slowly incorporated the dries into the wets, and then mixed in:

• 1/2 cup craisins
• 3/4 pistachios (painstakingly deshelled by hand)

Looks like christmas!

Can’t wait to eat you!

Once combined, I rolled the dough out into a log on parchment paper:

 Kind of surprising how perfect this looked, given that I couldn’t feel my fingers at this point.

I baked the biscotolog in a 300 degree oven for 35 minutes.  Then I removed it from the oven and covered it with a dish towel to cool for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, I reduced the oven heat to 275.

I transferred the biscotolog to a cutting board and cut into 18 slices:

PERFECTION!

Then popped the biscottis onto the cookie sheet again and put them back into the 275 degree oven for 8 minutes.

Once the biscotti was completely cooled,I drizzled the tops with some melted Bakers Chocolate

YES!

Overall, I really loved this biscotti.  I think some of my friends and fam were a little thrown off by the orange extract though.  I’m excited to play around with this recipe.  I’m thinking almond and craisins next time! 

Really any nut that doesn’t require deshelling would be superb….