Recipe: Cranberry-Citrus Biscotti with Toasted Almonds

This whole recipe came about because of a bad egg. Two, actually. It’s the first time I’ve had eggs from my supplier go bad on me and for two going off at once, my baking ego needed a little boost. Those two eggs were two of the very few that I didn’t first crack into a bowl to check just in case they were off. Of all the eggs, those two. Two batches of baked goods completely wasted because I was rushing.

Cranberry-Citrus Biscotti with Toasted Almonds

The net result of it was that I had only two eggs left, and only small amounts of other ingredients and I still wanted to bake. So I started throwing these together, for what purpose I’m not really sure originally. As it was all coming together I realized that I was probably making biscotti. A quick series of notes on a post-it later and I had a skeleton of ideas that birthed the last of this recipe into what you see here.

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour (see notes)
• 1/2 cup oats (not quick-cooking)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup citrus juice (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons citrus zest (I used Mandarin orange)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup unsalted, toasted almonds, chopped fine

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300F.
2. Combine the flour, oats, sugar and salt in a bowl, and whisk thoroughly to combine. Set this aside.
3. Combine the eggs, oil, juice, zest, and extract in another bowl and stir well to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix only until just combined to avoid making the dough tough.
5. Fold in the nuts and cranberries until just combined.
6. If the dough is too sticky to handle right away, place it covered lightly in the fridge to cool for about 30 minutes (up to as long as 24 hours if you want to make this ahead of time).
7. Line a cooking sheet with parchment and turn out the dough onto it.
8. Pat the dough to into a circle about 1 to 1-1/2-inch thick.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are golden.
10. Remove the pan from the oven and set it somewhere safe to cool briefly.
11. Turn down the oven temperature to 275F.
12. When the dough round isn’t uncomfortable to touch with your bare hands, take a long, serrated knife and cut the entire thing in half down the middle. Then cut each half into slices about 3/4 inch thick.
13. Place the slices back on the baking sheet on their sides to expose the inside of the dough.
14. Bake at 275F for another 30 minutes, then remove them to a rack to cool completely (they’ll harden as they cool).

Notes

Sometimes when you're slicing, little chunks just fall off. Honest.

I’m not normally one to use self-rising flour. Actually, we keep in the house for the rare times my husband feels compelled to bake on his own (read: safe in the kitchen with me nowhere nearby). After the aforementioned rotten egg incidents, I was completely without flour except for the self-rising variety, so I thought, what the heck. Turns out, it worked really well, giving the texture of the biscotti a lightness I enjoyed a great deal.

The citrus juice I used was a combination of many different kinds. We had some citrus fruits in danger of withering on our table and my husband asked for a citrus mimosa that evening (I argued that mimosas were a breakfast or brunch drink and he said I lacked his imagination and hobbit tendencies, something I find greatly amusing since he’s 6’5″ tall). Well after he got his mimosa, there was still 1/2 cup of juice left and the dough needed some moisture, so in it went. To cap it off and spike the layers of flavor just a little more, I added the last of the mandarin orange zest that had been sitting in my freezer. Fantastic addition.

When you cut these, I recommend using the longest serrated knife you have. I couldn’t find mine, so the slices look quite ragged due to having to cut through chunks of nuts and dried fruit with a chef’s knife. Trimmed up they could look quite pretty, but I suspect The Big Guy will think they taste just as good.

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