This lemon-themed month needs some breakfast food. How about some Cranberry Lemon Biscotti?
The lemon here isn’t hardcore. Zest throughout the dough adds freshness, and the dried cranberries are soaked in the juice to rehydrate. This gives the cranberries an especially pleasant zing.
For years, I was intimidated by biscotti, but now I enjoy coming up with a couple new recipes a year. Really, the trickiest thing about this is how sticky the dough is when it’s time to shape it.
I like the addition of white chocolate drizzle to add a touch more sweetness, but that’s optional.
The end result is a biscotti with a bright, sunny flavor that complements plump, tart cranberries, all in crispy, bready form that’s especially good dunked in coffee or tea!
This recipe is midway through my April of lemon recipes!
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
Cranberry Lemon Biscotti [today]
Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon Bundt Cake
Lemon Frangipane
Bready or Not Original: Cranberry Lemon Biscotti
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 4 ounces white chocolate optional, to drizzle on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Zest and juice lemon. Set aside zest, and soak cranberries in juice.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs with white sugar. Add oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and zest. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
- Drain lemon juice out of cranberries; discard juice. Fold cranberries into dough to equally distribute.
- Divide dough in half. Place each piece spaced out on parchment. Dough will be very sticky, so shape with plastic spatula or greased or floured hands into 1-inch high flat rectangular logs.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Use a long bread knife and slice down--don't saw--into long, even cookies. Space out cookies upright, if possible, or lay on sides.
- Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes; if cookies are laying on sides, flip them to other side halfway through. Biscotti should be golden and somewhat crisp.
- Let biscotti sit out for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours so that they can cool off and dry out even more.
- If adding white chocolate on top, melt chocolate in microwave or on stovetop (keep in mind, white chocolate can burn fast!). Use a fork to drizzle chocolate, or dip an end of each biscotti into the chocolate. Let set again for an hour or so, then pack into sealed bags or plastic containers.
- Biscotti can keep in sealed containers for as long as a month.
