Italian biscotti recipe | Almonds Chocolate Cranberries or Hazelnuts

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Biscotti are probably the most famous Italian cookie. Our biscotti recipe is easy and made with simple ingredients.

You'll get beautiful, crunchy, and nutty biscotti, perfect to dip in sweet wine or to eat on their own.

We show you how to make 3 types of biscotti: one with almond and hazelnuts, one with dark chocolate chips and cranberries, and another dipped in dark chocolate.

Jump to:

• The best biscotti recipe?
• Ingredients
• How to make biscotti
• How to dip biscotti in chocolate?
• Serving suggestion
• Common mistakes & troubleshooting
• Storage
• Recipe

The best biscotti recipe?

Growing up in Italy, I still remember how ubiquitous and popular these little cookies were.

I ate so many of them, homemade by my Italian grandmas and aunts, who would come out of the kitchen, after Sunday lunch, with the biggest cookie tray in the world and would proudly keep their biscotti recipe as the most precious secret.

They were delicious, and in Italy, a must after a meal, especially during autumn, and winter.

Biscotti, which in Italian are actually called Cantucci or Tozzetti, are very popular around the Christmas period, and are often served with wine, preferably a sweet one called Vin Santo (which in Italian means "holy wine").

Our recipe is as close as it gets in texture and flavor to the traditional Italian biscotti recipe, also known as Cantucci in Tuscany and Tozzetti in Umbria, which is where I grew up.

Also, we developed this recipe without eggs or butter, so it's suitable for vegans too.

You can watch a quick video guide here on how to make biscotti.

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• Almond milk: the best for this recipe because it enhances the nutty flavour in the biscotti. It can be sweetened or unsweetened. You can replace it with any other plant-based milk.
  
• Vegetable oil: we like to use sunflower oil but you can replace it with other neutral vegetable oils like canola oil. I would not use olive oil.
  
• Sugar and powdered sugar: they are both recommended in this recipe, however you could also just use sugar. We find that with both the biscotti is crunchier.
  
• Lemon zest: citrus zest is very popular in Italian cooking. You can replace it with orange zest if you like.
  
• Vanilla extract: optional, but we find that it complements the other ingredients well.

Dry Ingredients

• Flour: we use all purpose flour. To make them gluten free you can use a pre-made all purpose gluten free four mix.
  
• Baking powder: it gives a slight rise, crunch, and it makes the biscotti friable in your mouth.

For the flavours

We show you how to make 3 types of biscotti: one with almond and hazelnuts, one with dark chocolate chips and cranberries, and another dipped in dark chocolate.

But honestly, you can use any nuts and dried fruit that you like, such as raisins, pistachios, etc.

How to make biscotti

Preheat the oven to 340F or 170C. In a bowl, add the wet ingredients together. Whisk well, until all the ingredients come together into a smooth liquid.

Now add the flavouring ingredients and mix them with the liquid with a spoon. For example:

If you use almonds, add them, whole, and with the peel on. With a spatula, incorporate them into the liquid. Same for hazelnuts and pistachios. You can combine one or more nuts.

If you use dark chocolate chips, or dried fruit like cranberries is the same. Add those to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix them in with a spoon.

TIP: make sure to follow our quantities. If you put too many nuts or other flavourings, the dough won't be able to hold them in and it will fall apart while shaping it.

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Add the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) and with a spatula mix together until you have a thick paste/dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted worktop and knead with your hands for just a minute. You want to get to a compact dough ball without over-kneading.

Over-kneading will ruin the texture of the biscotti, making them less crunchy and harder to chew. Knead as little as possible and they'll be crunchy and friable.

Cut the dough into two parts, and shape each part into a long, flat, snake-like stripe.

Bake at 340F or 170C for 25 minutes. Then take them out of the oven and let them cool down on the tray for 20 minutes.

With a serrated knife (bread knife) cut the snake diagonally, into 1.5 - 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) long biscotti.

The snakes need to have cooled down for 20 minutes or they'll fall apart when you cut them.

Place the biscotti on the same baking tray, with the cut side facing down, and bake for 10 more minutes, or until golden. The second baking will make them crisp and tasty.

Fun Fact: in the Italian language, the word biscotti literally means "cooked twice" from "bis" (twice) and "cotti" (cooked).

Let cool down, transfer on a serving plate, and enjoy them as they are, or dipped in Italian sweet wine.

How to dip biscotti in chocolate?

First, you need to melt some dark chocolate, or dark chocolate chips. I like to add some almond milk (or another plant milk) to make the melted chocolate thinner so that it's easier to dip the biscotti in it.

To melt chocolate, the best way is with a double boiler. You need a pot with some water in it.

Then a heat-resistant bowl (or a second pot) on top of it. The bowl on top should not touch the water in the pot.

Add the dark chocolate chips (or a chopped-up chocolate bar) to the bowl. Also, add the plant milk at this stage.

Turn the heat on so that the water in the pot boils, and the steam heats up the bowl on top, melting the chocolate.

Stir while the chocolate melts. Do not add cold liquids to the hot chocolate. It will clump up.

When the chocolate is fully melted I like to transfer it into a taller and narrower container so that it's easier to dip the biscotti in it.

Then dip the biscotti. I dip them till about half their length. After dipping, place them on a cooling rack, trying not to let the chocolate part touch the rack.

You can put a skewer under the biscotti to keep them lifted.

You can even drizzle the chocolate on the biscotti.

Let the chocolate cool down, then when it hardens, you can transfer the chocolate-covered biscotti to a serving plate.

Serving suggestion

In Italy, biscotti are typically served on platter with other cookies. In many homes, they are also eaten for breakfast, mid-morning or as an afternoon snack - basically at any time!

Try making our other delicious cookies, such as Orange Almond Cookies, Amaretti and Red Wine Cookies.

They are all perfect for autumn and winter holiday season or at any other time when you feel like a plant-based sweet treat.

Common mistakes & troubleshooting

Adding too many nuts

Adding too much "filling" in the biscotti is problematic because the dough will not be able to hold the nuts (or the chocolate chips, or the cranberries) in, and will "reject" them.

It will be hard for you to knead the dough and shape the biscotti if this happens, so try to stick to our measurements.

FIX: while kneading, the dough will expel the excess nuts. If this happens, just take them away and keep kneading till the dough does not reject any more nuts.

Cooling down after the first bake

If you try to cut the biscotti while they are still hot, the dough will crumble and you won't get clear-cut biscotti.

FIX: simply wait a bit longer, till the biscotti-snake is lukewarm, but not completely cold, or else it'll get too hard to cut.

Storage

Our almond bisotti are best stored in a cool, dry spot for up to 2 weeks.

For storing biscotti, it is best to use a tin box lined with baking paper, a glass jar or an airtight container. I like to use a glass container with a air-tight lid.

After placing them in the container, you should also add a piece of bread in it. This trick helps absorb the moisture, leaving the cookies crunchy for longer.

Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you might also like:

• lemon blueberry pound cake
• flatbread pizza with three toppings
• confit tomatoes that melt in your mouth

Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below 🙂

Buon appetito!

Nico