These chocolate glazed orange pistachio biscotti are great to make ahead for the Holidays! They are perfect for your coffee snack and addition to your dessert table. You will also be amazed at how easy this recipe is! Biscotti means a twice-baked Italian cookie that is oblong shaped and crunchy. They are meant to be dipped in your coffee (tea or milk!). Traditionally, biscotti are made with almonds, but you can make them with a variety of flavors and nuts. In this recipe, for a festive look and taste, I use orange zest and chocolate. Very in the Holiday spirit right! Additionally, I used pistachio because I find they are the best nuts to combine with orange and chocolate. Finally, who would say no to extra chocolate dipped cookies!
Ingredients you need to make this recipe:
- Cocoa Powder: You can either use Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder in this recipe. Moreover, I like to use the former since it gives a more decadent chocolate taste while the latter will make a lighter chocolate taste.
- Unsalted Butter: Traditional biscotti are made without butter. However, I do find using a little butter goes a long way; it helps the biscotti remain slightly softer, especially if you plan on storing it afterwards.
- Orange Zest: Orange zest is seriously underated! I use orange zest in almost all my baking because it adds so much aroma, much more than using orange juice.
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE ORANGE PISTACHIO BISCOTTI
Making the cookie batter
Preheat oven to 330°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, whisk in all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
In a second mixing bowl, add sugar and orange zest. With your fingertips, work to combine them, which should feel like a wet sand mixture. PRO TIP: By working your sugar and orange zest out, it will release all the citrus oil from the zest which will get absorbed into the sugar.
In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on medium speed, whisk eggs and sugar mixture until it becomes pale in color and doubles in volume. PRO TIP: By whipping the eggs and sugar together, you will introduce air into the batter, which will help the cookie rise.
Change to a paddle attachment on low speed, add vanilla extract, half of the flour mixture and half of the melted butter. Once the butter and flour mixture is combined, add the second remaining half. PRO TIP: Slowly incorporating your flour will help your batter to mix evenly.
Manually fold in chopped pistachio nuts with a rubber spatula. I like to roughly chop the pistachio before adding them to the batter. This helps with the cutting of the biscotti afterwards.
Baking the biscotti
Dust some flour on the lined baking sheet and add the biscotti batter by forming a log of about 13 inch long and ½ to ¾ inch thick. Moreover, you can use a bench scraper to help forming the log. Bake for 30-35 minutes. (Here, I am making a double batch, hence why you see two logs.)
Let it cool for 5 minutes and cut into ¾ to 1-inch-wide pieces. Lay cut side down on the baking sheet and return to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes at 300°F.
Drizzling/dipping with chocolate
Melt chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler or microwave. You can either dip the biscotti in the melted chocolate or spread them with a spoon. Additionally, you can also use a pipping bag, which is my prefered method.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long do these biscotti can be stored for? These biscotti can be kept in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for 5 days.
Can I freeze them? Furthermore, if you made a big batch like I did, you can freeze them, also in an airtight bag or container up to 3 months once your biscotti are baked and the chocolate has hardened. These also make a great make-ahead treats to gift your family and friends!
If you enjoyed this, try out my other festive recipes for the Holidays!
Cranberry Orange Dutch Baby Pancake
Tahitian Vanilla Rum & Orange Crème Brûlée
Moreover, if you’ve tried this Chocolate Orange Pistachio Biscotti recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can let me know how it went by commenting in the comments section below and don’t forget to leave a rating!
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Mixer
- Rubber spatula
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) All-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (30g) Dutch processed or regular cocoa powder see note*
- ½ tsp (3g) baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) white granulated sugar
- Zest of an orange
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- 4 Tbsp (56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup pistachio roughly chopped
For the white chocolate dip ganache
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp (30ml) heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 330°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, whisk in all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a second mixing bowl, add sugar and orange zest. With your fingertips, work to combine them, which should feel like a wet sand mixture.
- In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on medium speed, whisk eggs and sugar mixture until it becomes pale in color and doubles in volume.
- Change to a paddle attachment on low speed, add vanilla extract, half of the flour mixture and half of the melted butter. Once the butter and flour mixture is combined, add the second remaining half.
- Manually fold in pistachio.
- Dust some flour on the lined baking sheet and add the biscotti batter by forming a log of about 13 inch long and ½ to ¾ inch thick. You can use a bench scraper to help forming the log. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Let it cool for 5 minutes and cut into ¾ to 1-inch-wide pieces. Lay cut side down on the baking sheet and return to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes at 300°F.
To make the ganache:
- Melt chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler or microwave. Either dip the biscotti in the melted chocolate or spread with a spoon or use a pipping bag.
- Let the chocolate firm up before serving.
Notes
- Cocoa powder: You can either use Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder in this recipe. Moreover, I like to use the former since it gives a more decadent chocolate taste while the latter will make a lighter chocolate taste.
