SMS - Cranberry and Almond (and Flax Seed) Biscotti

First, I'm saddened by the fact that my home country lost the World Cup today - in sympathy, I colored this announcement Orange... :o(

Ok, back to baking business... This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Tracey of Made by Tray-Tray. She selected Sour Cherry and Almond Biscotti, however, I turned them into Cranberry and Almond Biscotti. I already have a favorite Cranberry and Almond Biscotti recipe in my repertoire but I was curious how Melissa's recipe would compare. Although hers are pretty tasty too, they didn't trump my recipe. Regardless of that, a big thanks to Tracey for such a great pick and a chance to experiment with a new biscotti recipe.

Yummy! Cranberry Almond and Flax Seed biscotti.

Click on the link below to continue reading the rest of this post...

As you might have come to expect from me, I've made a few changes to both the recipe and the instructions. At the grocery store, I came across a good sale on organic Golden Flax Seeds and talked myself into buying them as they would be great in the biscotti. They would make the biscotti healthy. Maybe just a little bit health-IER but every bit counts, right? I added the flax seeds to the dry ingredients.

I melted the butter and added it to the eggs after I beat them with the (reduced) sugar to a pale and fluffy batter. The cranberries were reconstituted in hot water for 15 minutes and, along with the coarsely chopped almonds, added to the batter at the last minute.

Very coarsely chopped almonds

I found the batter too soft and was afraid it would spread too much in the oven and turn into 2 large biscotti cookies. So I added about 1/2 cup of extra flour to the entire batter. I formed the 2 logs and put them in the fridge while the oven was preheating. Right before baking them, I brushed them with egg wash because that's why I always do when making biscotti. After 30 minutes in a 350 degrees F oven, they looked like this:

Biscotti logs after the first 30 minute bake in the oven

After 15 minutes or so, I cut the biscotti diagonally into 1/2" pieces (a little smaller than prescribed), and laid them flat on the cookie sheet for their second bake.

 Ready for the second trip to the oven

I thought 1 hour for a second bake was way too long and so I baked mine in a 350 degrees F oven for 15 minutes on one side. I then flipped the cookies over, and baked them for another 15 minutes. That's it.

I got almost 4 dozen cookies which I took with me to an-girls gathering today. It was a big success and I got recipe requests :o)

My biscotti tower :o)

Final thoughts/tips:

• I liked these biscotti a lot, even though they don't replace my current favorite biscotti recipe. The aroma from the lemon zest was noticeable in the dough but once it was (twice) baked, I couldn't discern it anymore. I'll probably increase the zest next time. Hubby liked it too but noted that these biscotti were crunchier than what he prefers but still found them to be quite tasty. He gave them an 8 out of 10.
• To the dry ingredients, I added 2 Tbsp of golden flax seeds for texture as well as nutritional value.
• I reduced the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup (instead of 1 cup).
• Adding 1/2 cup more flour and using melted butter made making this recipe a breeze, allowing me to bake them almost right away without refrigerating the dough for 1 hour first.
• I didn't use almond extract. Instead, I increased the vanilla extract to a total of 3 tsp.
• Don't forget to check out the SMS blog roll to see how others liked this recipe.
• If you would like to try this recipe for yourself, you can find the recipe HERE on Tracey's blog.