When thinking about giving holiday cookies as gifts this year, there are always a few major considerations. First and foremost, are they delicious? Second, will they keep until the recipient receives them? Last, are they shippable? The winner in all three of these categories is the humble yet delicious biscotti.
Biscotti is a long biscuit cookie with a crunchy texture that's achieved by double-baking. There are any number of variations: Cranberry Pistachio or Chocolate Almond, for example. I love dried fig and hazelnut or the simple combination of cardamom and vanilla. Once you get the hang of baking and slicing the dough, biscotti is about as simple a recipe as they come and, in my experience, tends to be one of those things that friends and family find much fancier and labor-intensive than it really is. The best part? Because of their firm, snappy texture, biscotti ship beautifully and has a long shelf-life (2-3 weeks) so you can begin the gifting now!
Related: Crunchy Cookies: 5 Tasty Ideas for Biscotti
(Images: Stephanie Barlow)
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Biscotti are my favorite cookies, I always end up making at least two or three different kinds for the holidays (but anise-almond are still my favorites). I just made the David Lebovitz ones last night and added 1.5 teaspoons of orange zest--amazing. For what it's worth, that made more like 30 cookies, instead of the 50-60 in the recipe--and I made them small.
We love biscotti at my house...I make them at least once a week! Just recently I switched up my recipe and made Pumpkin Spice Carob Biscotti. I also give them to my toddler son...I simply give him his biscotti before the second baking round either alone or crumbled into yogurt!
Similar to above, I took this recipe (substituted a lemon and a navel orange for Meyer lemon), added dried cranberries, and drizzled with white chocolate. so, so good: http://www.bellalimento.com/2012/02/20/pistachio-and-meyer-lemon-biscotti/