Pumpkin Biscotti with Almond and Cranberry

5 from 59 votes

Pumpkin Biscotti with Almond and Cranberry

Fall and winter season calls for baking with pumpkin pie spice and this Pumpkin Biscotti is the best choice. These twice baked biscotti studded with almond and cranberry is a great choice to bake during the holiday season to pass around friends and neighbors.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: pieces

Calories: 67kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

oven

Ingredients

1 ½ cups All Purpose flour divided as 1 ¼ cup and ¼ cup
¾ teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon Salt
½ cup Sugar
2 tablespoon Butter melted
1 large Egg
¼ cup Pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
¼ cup Cranberry dried
¼ cup Almond sliced

Instructions

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment or a silicon baking mat.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Whisk all the dry ingredients -1 ¼ cup Flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl and keep it aside. (We will reserve the ¼ cup of flour for later)
In another large bowl, add the meted butter and sugar. Beat it with a whisk until pale. You could do this using a hand mixer or stand mixer as well.
Add the egg and blend it well.
Now add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and mix well.
Now slowly add the flour mixture in 3 batches and combine well after each addition.
Finally add the cranberry and almond and mix it to combine.
The biscotti batter/ dough will appear wet. Do not be tempted to add more flour at this point.
Sprinkle half of the reserved flour on the work surface and transfer the dough.
Divide the biscotti batter into two and working with one half at a time shape it into a log. Place the log onto the prepared baking sheet. My logs measured about 8 inches long. Flatten the log to about ½ inch thick . My final shaped log measured about 8 inches long and 3 inches wide.
Repeat the same with the other half of the dough.
Bake it in the preheated 350 F oven for about 25 minutes.
Remove the baked biscotti from the oven let it cool down for about 20 minutes on a wire rack. The logs would still be soft to touch and edges would have begun to firm up. So be careful when transferring the logs to the rack.
After 20 minutes, using a sharp serrated knife, slice the biscotti into ¾ inch thick slices. Make sure to use a sharp knife as the biscotti could crumble easily.
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 F.
Place the sliced biscotti on the baking tray with the sliced side down.
Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes and then flip the slices and then bake again for 10 - 12 minutes. The pumpkin biscotti must have hardened by now and also appear dry.
If the biscotti still seems a little soft, you could bake it for few more minutes after flipping. I usually have good results when I bake them for thirty minutes flipping them every 10 minutes.
Remove the pumpkin biscotti from the oven and cool them on a cooling rack. I like to let mine sit out in dry air for couple of hours before I store them.
You could serve this as is or dip partially in chocolate once cooled.

Notes

Expert tips

Do not be tempted to add more flour to the biscotti dough. The dough will be on the wet side and that is what yields the light and crumbly biscotti. Adding too much flour can cause the biscotti to become dense.

Rub some flour in your palms to make it easier to shape the dough.

Try to slice the biscotti in to even slices. This helps in uniform baking.

The time taken to for the second baking depends on the thickness of the slices. If you sliced them too thick, it could take longer. Keep an eye on the color of the biscotti and flip them frequently to prevent burning.

If the biscotti is getting darker but still appears soft, reduce the oven temperature further and bake.

Let the biscotti cool completely before storing.

Nutrition