What have we here? New recipe 49

[cwhf]

my first biscotti, originally uploaded by cwhf.
My first biscotti! These are almond cranberry.

Easy recipe courtesy of www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup light olive oil
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts - couldn't find shelled so I subbed almonds that I had toasted and cooled

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in cranberries and nuts by hand.
3. Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12x2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.
4. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
5. Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry; cool. (I baked these almost 30 minutes to dry them out and I flipped them and rotated the pans at about 10-12 minutes.)

Yummy, only 2 more cookies (and 1 more biscotti batch) to complete the cookie tins this year---gingersnaps and amaretti.

ETA some tweaks on the recipe:
-I up the almond extract to 1-2 tsp
-Sift the flour after measuring---really helps cut down on the runniness and stickiness of the dough (still sticky though)
-Up craisins to 1 cup, almonds add about 1 c. (lots of nuts for a single batch---for a double batch, 1.5 cups is plenty)
-Toast the almonds to maximize flavor
-Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.
-Second bake with biscotti standing and rotate pans (at 15 min), toasting at 275 for total of 30 min. No flipping necessary this way.