It's time to wrap up week of cookies on the Holiday Saute. It's been a great week (OK, two weeks)! To recap, we've experimented with the following cookies: M&M Cookies, Pumpkin Cranberry Bars, Rum Balls, and Chocolate Mint Cookies (which seems to be the Ballston area favorite! It's an amazing cookie!).

I decided to wrap this week of sweetness up with a biscotti recipe that I first made last Christmas. The red cranberries and green pistachios make this cookie especially festive-and come on, biscotti is a BREAKFAST cookie. A cookie for breakfast. Even Santa is down with that.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (another gem from www.allrecipes.com)
Makes 3 dozen (I've never made that many out of this recipe, I cut them too thick!)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup light olive oil
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in cranberries and nuts by hand.
3. Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12x2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.
4. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
5. Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry; cool.

Rate it!:
Rating: A-
Level of Difficulty: Medium-the dough is VERY sticky
Cost: Roughly $20.00 (the almond extract and pistachios drive the price up!) 
Cost per Serving: $0.56 per biscotti (based on 3 dozen)
Bad Breath Factor: Not a problem-these are delicious!

Suggestions:
1) The dough is hard to work with-put some muscle into stirring it-you want to make sure the nuts and cranberries are stirred in very well and that there's no nutless/cranberryless dough.
2) To form dough into 2 logs, really wet your hands with cold water. It really does help working with the dough.
3) If you forget parchment paper-don't worry. The biscotti still turns out great and didn't stick to the pan for me.

These were a big hit with my family, and I hope you give them a shot, too. They take a little extra time, but are absolutely tasty and worth the effort. Enjoy them with milk, hot chocolate, or (my favorite) dunked in coffee. They are a perfect anytime treat that you are sure to love!

Next, we'll be starting week of appetizers! Get ready, I've got some yummy ones coming up!

Happy Holidays, Ballston!