Wren’s Vanilla Lime Cranberry Biscotti

I’m so happy to have Wren, of finchnwren.com guest posting today for us.  She’s sharing her own Vanilla Lime Cranberry Biscotti recipe with us. I’ve never tried biscotti; but I after seeing this recipe and how easy it really is to make, I have the ingredients added to my grocery order next week so I can surprise my family and friends with a new coffee break treat!

Are you a biscotti fan?  Since I found my first biscotti recipes ever in the Southern Living ANNUAL RECIPES 1996, they have been family favorites and a part my gift-giving arsenal.  These light, flavorful biscuit cookies from Italy are lovely to serve to guests or family.  Every Christmas I have a massive baking day, and I always make my Southern Living biscotti faves.

However, after I made these recipes for a few years, I decided that I needed to branch out.  Once you’ve got the basic biscotti method down, it’s fun to see what else you can come up with!  These Vanilla Lime Cranberry Biscotti are my newest attempt, and a new favorite of both my husband and son.  They have a very light and delicate flavor and are a perfect addition to tea time or afternoon coffee!

Enjoy!

Vanilla Lime Cranberry Biscotti

 Ingredients:

• ½ C butter, softened
• ½ C granulated (white) sugar
• ½ C light brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lime
• Juice from ½ lime (if you want more lime flavor, use the entire lime)
• 2 ¼ C all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 C dried cranberries

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth in electric mixer. Add eggs, vanilla extract, lime zest, and lime juice.  Mix well.

3) Stir together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and add to wet ingredients. Mix well.

4) Stir in the dried cranberries, being sure to mix them evenly throughout the dough.

5) Divide the dough into two parts and form logs on a prepared baking sheet covered with parchment paper. The logs should be about 7” or 8” long and 4” wide.

6) Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 F, until logs are cooked thoroughly. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.  Then, remove logs from pan and cool for 30 minutes more.

7) Slice each log into ½” to ¾” pieces. You can stop at this point, but if you’d like your biscotti to be crisper so that you can dunk them into hot beverages before you eat them, lay each slice on the baking sheet again and return to oven for 5 minutes on each side.

8) Cool, eat and enjoy!

We really like the flavor.  The lime is just a hint, but I like what it adds overall.  It is just super-easy.  It’s a lot like making chocolate chip cookies but even easier, since you form the dough into two logs instead of into a bunch of cookies!

Wren blogs with her sister at finchnwren.com.  She is married to the perfect guy (for her!) and homeschools their only son.  She loves teaching, gardening, reading, and cooking.  Check out these recent recipes Wren posted!