Continuing with my promise to post about different types of Christmas treats, the final days before the big day brings Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Biscotti. After making Dorie Greenspan’s fabulous Chocolate Biscotti a couple of weeks ago, I knew I needed to find a second type of biscotti to include in my Christmas goodie packages and for my Christmas Eve cookie platter.  I scoured through my cookbooks, checked online, and was finally pointed in the right direction by Bridget when she suggested the recipe Deb’s got posted over at Smitten Kitchen (from Bon Appetit). Of course!  As a daily reader of SK, I should have known that Deb’s got a delicious recipe over there…sometimes you just need a little prompting though, right?

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As most biscotti recipes do, this one also called for nuts (almonds) which I subbed for white chocolate.  And because I really didn’t feel like running out in the snow on Friday to buy orange liqueur, I used pure orange extract in place of the liqueur and the orange zest.  Other than those subs, I made no other changes and used the recipe as sort of a plain biscotti base for my add-ins.  In addition to the white chocolate chips, I added about 1 cup of dried cranberries – who doesn’t love the orange-cranberry combination?!

All in all, these biscotti were just outstanding.  I mean, seriously outstanding.  Better than the chocolate biscotti, if that’s possible.  I’m still tempted to dip them in some chocolate but I couldn’t really decide which – white?  dark?  milk?  I think they all would work perfectly.  But at this point, I’m not sure if I want to take anything away from the flavor of these sweet and savory treats.  If you’re still at a loss for your cookie platter or goodie packages, you must try these!!!

Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Biscotti

adapted from Bon Appetit, December 1999; found on Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • just under 1 tablespoon pure orange extract
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup dried cranberries

Instructions:

  1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract, orange extract in large bowl. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Mix in white chips and cranberries.
  2. Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Transfer both logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart.
  3. Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 30 minutes. Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 25 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.
  4. Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices standing up on same baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.