Cranberry White Chocolate Almond Biscotti

After another fifteen days of staying away from home,  I was excited to meet the kids {my two little nieces and the nephew}.  And I feel that I get that extra teeny meeny bit of love in exchange of these sweet goodies.  That excitement fueled my Baking Madness on the first day of the week.

Visiting the family over weekend also means that I wouldn’t be getting a lavish time to source the ingredients. So over the last five days, while returning from work, I stopped at various gourmet grocery shops, check listing the ingredients {We don’t have one stop shop for baking goods in India}.

In the end, I had managed to finish my baking project on time, and was excited to wrap a big round box of these homemade cranberry white chocolate almond biscotti. I took a few over to my friend’s place as well and they were well received. And when I reached home, I got the similar response from the kids as longed for. The box was empty in no time of opening up !!!

Ingredients

½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup boiling water
350 gm plain flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
100 gm unsalted butter, room temperature
150 gm granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
3 large eggs, plus 1 large egg, lightly beaten
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
1½ tsp almond extract
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup slivered almonds
rind of one orange

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F/180° C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place cranberries in a small bowl, and add boiling water. Let stand until plump, about 15 minutes. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
4. Using electric/hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture and orange rind, and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in the drained cranberries and the white chocolate chips.
7. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each piece into a 16-by-2-inch log, and transfer to prepared baking sheet, about 3 inches apart.
8. With the palm of your hand, flatten logs slightly. Brush beaten egg over the surface of the dough logs, and sprinkle generously with sugar.
9. Bake for about 25 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through. Once logs are slightly firm to the touch, transfer them on to a wire rack to cool slightly for about 20 minutes.
10. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F/140°C.
11. Place logs on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise on the diagonal into ½-inch-thick slices.
12. Place a wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet. Arrange slices, cut sides down, on the rack. Bake the slices for about 30 minutes, until firm to the touch.
13. Remove pan from oven. Let biscotti cool completely on the rack.