Try a different version of the twice-baked cookies with chocolate cherry biscotti, made with dried cherries, dark chocolate, and cardamom. These make a great gift and are a nice alternative to more typical heavily spiced holiday cookies. Make sure to serve with coffee for dipping.
If you want to make a holiday cookie platter or are thinking about gifting some cookies, take a look at our soft eggnog cookies, cranberry orange shortbread, or spicy mincemeat cookies to pair with these.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Flour: feel free to use all white flour and leave out the whole wheat. The wholegrain flour adds a slight nutty flavour that we really like. You can also try whole spelt or whole wheat pastry flour in its place for the same complexity.
- Dried cherries: any dried fruit can be used in place of the cherries. Raisins, chopped dates, dried figs, or currants would all be great.
- Cardamom: cinnamon, nutmeg, or a blend like apple pie spice or chai spice are good substitutes for cardamom.
- Chocolate: use baking chocolate to prevent burning. You can substitute chocolate chips if you'd like.
- Sugar: for an extra sense of sweetness, use vanilla sugar to replace all or some of the plain sugar.
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
Method
Step 1: add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix.
Step 2: beat in the butter, then add the eggs one at a time.
Step 3: fold in the chocolate and cherries.
Step 4: form the dough into two logs.
Step 5: bake for about 25 minutes before cooling fully and slicing into individual cookies.
Step 6: bake again for about 20 minutes, then cool before serving.
Top Tips
- They will spread: the biscotti will spread a bit during the first bake. If you only have small baking sheets, you may prefer to use two. They will spread more if you use margarine instead of butter.
- Make smaller cookies: you can slice the cookies straight across rather than diagonal if preferred, to make a slightly smaller version.
- Use a serrated knife: for the best results, always slice biscotti with a serrated knife and a back-and-forth gentle sawing motion.
Recipe Notes
These bake well from frozen. The cookies can be frozen in a well sealed container after they're sliced, before the second bake. Keep them in the freezer to bake as needed! Frozen biscotti need about five minutes longer if baking from frozen.
Dip the ends of the finished cookies in dark or white chocolate, or both, if you want a fancier appearance.
How to Store
Storage: keep in a sealed container on the counter for up to two weeks.
Freezing: biscotti freeze very well. If you want to freeze the baked cookies (see above to freeze par-baked), transfer the fully cooled biscotti to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Chocolate Cherry Biscotti
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
- Mixing bowl
- Electric mixer
- baking sheet
- Wire rack
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour, or more all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup dried sour cherries
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt with an electric mixer. Alternatively, use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom , ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Add the butter to the bowl and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.¼ cup butter
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low between each addition, until fully combined.2 large eggs
- Mix in the cherries and chocolate until a ball of dough forms.½ cup dried sour cherries, ½ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
- Split the dough into equal halves. Use your hands to shape two 2x12 inch (5x30 cm) logs on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches (5 cm) between them.
- Bake the biscotti for 25-30 minutes, or until they're just firm to the touch and lightly golden. Cool for 10 minutes on the sheet, then place the logs onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once fully cool, slice into 3⁄4 inch (2 cm) slices and place the cookies back onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until golden all over. Cool fully before storing in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate and is provided as a courtesy. For precise nutritional data, please calculate it independently using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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flavor was good but even though I weighed my ingredients, the dough was much too crumbly. I was able to make the logs but not cut them into the biscotti. It's gonna become granola.
Hi Jamie, sorry we can't advise further based on the information in your comment. I just made these again at Christmas and they turned out perfectly for me (also weighing ingredients) so unless you made some changes I'm not sure what to tell you.