Biscotti
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Have you ever wondered how to make Biscotti at home? These classic, twice-baked Italian cookies are incredibly easy to make and can be customized with your favorite add-ins. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Perfect Italian Cookie, Made Easy
These super easy Italian biscotti couldn’t be more different from the soft and chewy cookies that I usually share with you. If you’ve ever had biscotti before, you already know they’re not soft at all. Instead they’re hard and crunchy, and despite the fact that I usually avoid these two characteristics like the plague when it comes to cookies, I love these biscotti. In fact, I think they’re ridiculously delicious. But then again, aren’t all Italian desserts?
I used to think that biscotti were challenging to make (kind of like cannoli), but they’re actually not–not even a little bit. Biscotti are made with a very simple dough that you can customize with your favorite extracts and add-ins. They’re different from most cookies, because instead of scooping the dough, you’ll form it into two logs, bake them, let them cool completely, and then slice and them bake again. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can also dip or drizzle your biscotti with chocolate, but that’s totally your call (obviously, I’m team chocolate 🙋🏼♀️).
Let’s dive right in!
What You Need
Prepare yourself: these ingredients are SUPER basic, but they yield amazingly crisp and flavorful cookies. Here are the stars of today’s recipe:
- Butter. While some recipes use oil, I like to use butter for a better flavor and texture. Use unsalted, softened (not melty!) butter.
- Sugar. Since they are cookies, biscotti should be sweet! Stick with granulated sugar for this recipe.
- Eggs. We’ll add these one at a time and will mix the batter thoroughly after each addition. If you can remember, set your eggs out beforehand so they’re room temperature–they’ll incorporate better that way!
- Vanilla. Two teaspoons will give us a lovely vanilla flavor. If you like your biscotti to taste more traditional (think pizzelle cookies), you can always reduce your vanilla to 1½ teaspoons and add a splash of anise extract (I’ve included instructions in the notes).
- Flour. All-purpose flour works best here. If you have trouble with the dough sticking while trying to form it, feel free to flour your hands.
- Almonds and chocolate chips. While I use chocolate chips and slivered almonds here, you can substitute whatever you like. You can use about 1⅓-1½ cups of your favorite add-ins; raisins, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pistachios, all are popular choices!
- Chocolate. This is optional, but if you’d like to either dip or drizzle your biscotti with extra chocolate (who doesn’t?!) melting wafers work well. You could also use chocolate chips.
SAM’S TIP: If you have a stand mixer, use it! While you can get away with using an electric hand mixer, this dough gets pretty stiff and difficult to mix, so save yourself some effort and use a stand mixer.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Biscotti
- Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition until well incorporated. Stir in the vanilla.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them into the wet ingredients.
- Stir in your add-ins.
- Divide the dough into equal pieces and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Form the dough into logs with lightly floured hands.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350F, then cool completely.
- Use a serrated knife to slice the loaves diagonally. Place the biscotti cut side down onto your baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove your biscotti from the oven, flip them over, and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow the biscotti to cool completely before dipping or drizzling with chocolate.
SAM’S TIP: Use care when flipping your biscotti as they come out of the oven; they are much more fragile and likely to break while they are warm. I recommend using tongs and a gentle hand to turn them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Because they are baked twice, biscotti are hard and crisp. They’re great for dunking in a hot cup of coffee (cookies for breakfast ❤).
Since they’re are already pretty hard and dry (I promise, they’re delicious and supposed to be that way!), they don’t go stale fast at all. Biscotti will keep for least several weeks when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Shallow cracks on the surface are normal and nothing to be worried about. You can always dip them in melted chocolate to cover them up.
Enjoy! And if you’re looking for a chocolate version, be sure to check out my chocolate biscotti!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Biscotti Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups (265 g) sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, (see note if you would like to use anise extract)
- 3 ¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose cups flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- ⅔ cup (66 g) slivered almonds
- ⅔ cup (113 g) mini chocolate chips
- ½ cup (170 g) dark chocolate melting wafers or chocolate chips for dipping biscotti, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until creamy and well-combined.10 tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter, 1 ⅓ cups (265 g) sugar
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.3 large eggs
- Stir in vanilla extract.2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.3 ¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose cups flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- Gradually add flour mixture into butter mixture, stirring until completely combined.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips and almonds.⅔ cup (66 g) slivered almonds, ⅔ cup (113 g) mini chocolate chips
- Using lightly floured hands, divide dough into two equal pieces and place on prepared baking sheet. Form dough into two separate logs approximately 10-12″ long by 2-3″ wide, and be sure to space them at least 4″ apart as biscotti will spread (you may use separate cookie sheets to bake, if needed). If dough is too sticky, lightly dust with additional flour and lightly powder your hands with a thin layer of flour.
- Bake 30 minutes on 350F (175C), or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow biscotti to cool completely. (Note that you will need to return the biscotti to the oven after it has cooled and you have sliced it, so you may wish to leave your oven on while the biscotti cools or set yourself a reminder to turn it back on).
- Once cooled, slice loaves diagonally into slices about 1 ½" thick (I recommend using a bread knife for this). Place biscotti cut-side down on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Return to 350F (175C) oven and bake for 10 minutes. Flip each biscotti over gently, and then bake another 10 minutes on 350F (175C). Biscotti should be lightly golden brown when finished baking.
- Allow to cool completely.
- If desired, melt chocolate in 20 second increments (stirring in between) until melted and use a spoon to drizzle over cooled biscotti. Allow chocolate to harden before serving (this will take much longer with chocolate chips than with melting wafers).½ cup (170 g) dark chocolate melting wafers or chocolate chips for dipping biscotti
Notes
Add-Ins
Feel free to substitute the almonds and/or the chocolate chips with an equal amount of your favorite add-ins, or leave them out entirely!Anise Extract
Classic Italian biscotti are often made with anise extract. Feel free to add 1-2 teaspoons of anise extract or 2 teaspoons of anise seed (in addition to the vanilla extract) if you so desire.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Biscotti will keep for at least two weeks. Biscotti may also be frozen in an airtight container for several months.Chocolate Version
See my chocolate biscotti recipe.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I read the reviews prior to making them and I can understand why people raved about them. They are fantastic and fairly easy. I made mini chocolate chip walnut, Yum. I like how versatile they can be and will probably be making them for Christmas. Too. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Bernadette! 🙂
Brava. THIS IS THE BEST RECIPE, and I love that you repeat the ingredients in the instructions. The person who commented that the Biscotti was too sweet, and since she claimed to be from Europe where desserts are less sweet than American desserts, which is true. Biscotti is a European dessert by the way, and she ought to eat fruit instead for dessert. This biscotti is perfect and not too sweet.
Ive made a ton of biscottis in my time. This is by far the best.
We are so happy our recipe was a hit for you Jo! 🥰
For me is just sweet “” something the way Americans likes. I regret it for baking this recipe. Maybe because I was not born here. I prefer real!! Europian style baking . It’s much less sugar, better quality and taste. Sorry
What would you recommend I use to make a lemon version of this recipe?
Hi Jamie! Some lemon zest and extract would work nicely 😊
I used 2 tbl of crushed star anise,dried cranberries and pistachios. I gave them to a friend going on a bus trip. She passed on four marriage proposals to me. So I guess they were good.
This recipe is amazing. My biscotti are delicious!
I have made this recipe multiple times in the past year. Easy and Delicious! Our many houseguests (skiers) LOVE them. I use cinnamon bits and raisins as my add-ins.
Made for the first time,came out great everyone raved about them?
Fantastic recipe. Made them twice, and will certainly do more in the future. I substitute pistacio and chocolate for the almonds and chocolate, and its great. Also, simply wetting your fingers in order to flip them over for the third bake works better than tongs in my experience!
I recently tried the homemade almond biscotti recipe, and it was a delightful experience from start to finish!
Omg!!! I made these they are so good!!! and so easy to make.
First time making biscotti. I chilled the batter for 30 minutes before shaping for the oven. Found it easier to handle chilled. End result was excellent. Thank you for sharing.
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Clare! 💜
We loved this biscotti recipe; it was yummy and my husband, who normally does not like the dryness of biscotti, gave this high marks! I did not have mini chocolate chips but used regular chips and it worked well. Did cut the biscotti thinner ( about an inch) and still needed to add time after cooking so all of the insides of biscotti were completely baked. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Question–can I make smaller (4) ones without changing the baking time? Like will they burn because I cut them smaller?
Hi Marnelle! If they are smaller, your biscotti will likely take less time to bake. So best to keep an eye on them! Enjoy 😊
Fabulous!! Rave reviews from my “critics”!! 🙂
Wonderful! Thanks for letting us know, Marnelle 🥰
My first attempt and it is the best!!
Thanks much
We’re so happy they turned out for you! Thanks for using our recipe 🩷
These are the perfect biscotti. I have made many different recipes, but I think, and so does my husband, these are the best I’ve made. I added chocolate, dried cherries (that I soaked in hot water for 5 minutes) and pecans. The texture was wonderful, they weren’t too hard, but great for dunking. The flavor was delicious–I used vanilla extract for these, and each of the add-ins stood on their own. This will now be my go-to biscotti recipe. And my guests agree!! Thank you Sam for this great recipe.
Thanks for the lovely review, Hedda! We are so happy our recipe is a winner for you 💜
Very easy and delicious!