Biscotti with Cranberries and Pistachios Dipped in Dark Chocolate Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are biscotti dipped in? ›

Most connoisseurs on either side of the pond agree that dipping biscotti into a sweet Italian wine is the perfect end to a hearty Italian meal. The Milk Dunk – Of course, there are those among us who love to dip cookies into milk, either warm or cold.

Baking soda – baking soda helps the biscotti rise and spread. Make sure that your baking soda isn't expired. Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.

Sifting your ingredients together help avoid the hard middle in your biscotti! Don't overbeat the eggs. You want just enough air pockets to add some crispiness and texture, but not so many that you get a lot of crumble in your biscotti instead.

Biscotti are hard, crunchy cookies as they are usually baked twice - the word biscotti is derived from Italian - "bis" meaning "twice" and "cotti" meaning "cooked". Usually the dough is formed into small loaf shapes (similar to a ciabatta loaf) and baked for around 20 minutes, then cooled slightly before slicing.

Despite their centuries-old heritage, there is no one perfect way to make biscotti. Some recipes call for eggs only, which is the traditional method, while others swear by butter or oil. The choice is yours; just keep in mind that those made with butter or oil will have both a softer texture and a shorter shelf life.

Here it is, a biscotti recipe everyone can enjoy — unlike classic Italian biscotti, which are quite hard, these are light and crunchy. Biscotti bake twice rather than once, and thus take a bit longer start-to-finish than normal drop cookies.

Because the dough can be sticky and hard to form, it's important to chill the batter for a good 30 minutes before baking the first time.

Most baked goods need a leavening agent to make them rise, and if you leave it out, your cake or your cookies will fall flat. Baking powder makes dough rise because it contains both a base and an acid in dried form.

A: Overbaking the logs of dough during the first baking can make the slices crumble as you are cutting them. Also, even if the logs of dough are perfectly baked, they will crumble if they are sliced while still warm, so be patient. The logs crumble when you use a dull knife, too.

How sticky should biscotti dough be? ›

Biscotti dough is inherently sticky. I recommend adequately flouring your hands before working the dough, and if it's still too sticky to handle, add a little flour at a time but just enough so you can work with it.

First of all, the strict answer to the question “When is a biscotti not a biscotti?” is “never”, because in Italian “biscotti” is a plural word, meaning biscuits, while the singular is “biscotto”.

Just keep them at room temperature but in an airtight container. Biscotti that are baked with butter can be frozen, but they may lose some of their crunchiness when thawed.

To make these cookies, start by whipping eggs and a couple of extra egg yolks together with sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. This step is key to making biscotti that are crisp but not hard. Get the mixture very pale, thick, and airy. All that air will help lighten the biscotti.

Since they are very dry, biscotti traditionally are served with a drink, into which they may be dunked. In Italy they are typically served as an after-dinner dessert with a Tuscan fortified wine called Vin Santo. Outside of Italy, they more frequently accompany coffee, including cappuccinos and lattes, or black tea.

Named after its traditional method of cooking, biscotti are generally baked twice, rendering the rather dried out and hard version associated with the cookie. This is why biscotti are often served alongside an espresso or vin santo as dipping helps to soften the cookie's texture.

Don't get me wrong, biscotti are delicious on their own, but let me tell you, dipping them into a hot beverage takes the experience to a whole new level.

Italians dip in wine instead, not in coffee according to that article. Dipping in that wine sounds marginally worse than dunking in coffee. The soft, cookie-like biscotti available in many cafes won't hold up to any dunking at all, and will end up waterlogged and sad at the end of your sipping.