Pumpkin Biscotti
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These Pumpkin Biscotti are perfectly crisp! My recipe includes an optional white chocolate drizzle and it can handle your favorite mix-ins like nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate chips.
The Best Pumpkin Biscotti
You can make perfectly spiced, crisp pumpkin biscotti right in your own kitchen! These crunchy Italian cookies are easy to make and have an incredible flavor. I highly recommend pairing them with a cup of coffee on a cool fall day 🍂
Today’s post is a welcome update to one of my older recipes. I’ve made a few changes to improve the pumpkin flavor and encourage the texture to be more authentic to traditional biscotti (it was too moist originally). I’m very happy with how this new version turned out!
One important thing to note: just like with my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and my pumpkin bars, we’ll be blotting our pumpkin today to remove as much of the water as possible. This is a critical step! Pumpkin contains SO much water, while this works fine in my pumpkin cake and pumpkin coffee cake, it can make other baked goods like this biscotti too soft, cakey, and moist. Blotting the pumpkin in today’s recipe results in crunchier pumpkin biscotti, which is exactly what we want. Don’t skip this step!
What You Need
Most of the ingredients we’ll be using today are pretty basic, but there’s a few I’d like to note before we get started:
- Pumpkin puree. Since pumpkin contains so much water, we’ll need to blot it with paper towels before using it. This is a critical step for making crisp and crunchy pumpkin biscotti! Make sure you are using pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling–they are sold right near each other and look very similar.
- Butter. I use unsalted butter (instead of oil) in my biscotti recipes (like my chocolate biscotti) because I think it provides the best flavor and texture.
- Flour. Use all-purpose flour and don’t be afraid to add more to your hands while forming the dough.
- Pumpkin spice. You can either make your own using my homemade pumpkin spice, or you can use store-bought.
- White chocolate. This is optional, but I love adding a white chocolate drizzle to my pumpkin biscotti. You can use either a chopped up white chocolate baking bar or white chocolate chips.
SAM’S TIP: Don’t have brown sugar on hand? You can make your own! Check out my how to make brown sugar tutorial for details–it’s easy.
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 Pumpkin Biscotti
- Prepare the dough: Cream together the butters and sugars until light and creamy, then stir in the blotted pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until the dough is fully combined.
- First bake: Divide the dough into two halves, then form each into a 10-12″ loaf. Place the loaves 4″ apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30-33 minutes at 350F. Let cool completely before proceeding.
- Slice: Use a serrated knife to slice the loaves on a bias, making the slices no thicker than 1″. Place the slices cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Second bake: Bake for 10 minutes at 350F, then flip the biscotti and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool completely before drizzling with white chocolate.
SAM’S TIP: Your pumpkin biscotti will be fragile when warm, so use a gentle hand when flipping them to the other side for their final bake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Assuming you measured everything correctly and blotted your pumpkin, the most likely cause is not cooking your pumpkin biscotti long enough. Remember, they should be lightly golden and dry when you remove them from the oven that last time.
You can store your biscotti at room temperature in an airtight container. They’ll last this way for up to 2 weeks.
Yes! You can add up to 1⅓-1½ cups of add-ins to this pumpkin biscotti recipe. I recommend white chocolate chips (skip the white chocolate drizzle, or don’t!), pumpkin seeds, or dried cranberries. Fold them in after the dry ingredients.
Special thanks for this recipe goes to my cousin, Leanne, for suggesting I try my hand at pumpkin biscotti….Hi Leanne!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Pumpkin Biscotti
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (124 g) canned pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 ¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
White chocolate drizzle (optional)
- 4 oz (113 g) white chocolate bar, or ⅔ cup white chocolate chips
- ⅛ teaspoon pumpkin spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and creamy.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- Blot the pumpkin: Place the pumpkin puree in a separate bowl and use a wad of paper towels to blot the pumpkin 10 times, until you’ve removed some of the excess water (if you are using a scale, my pumpkin typically weighs 85g after I’ve thoroughly blotted it).½ cup (124 g) canned pumpkin puree
- Add the blotted pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar and beat until well-combined.1 large egg, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and salt.3 ¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon salt
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until combined.
- Using lightly floured hands, divide the dough into two equal pieces and form each into a loaf that’s approximately 10-12” (27cm) long by 2-3” (6cm) wide. Space loaves at least 4” (10cm) apart (biscotti will spread! If you don’t have enough space on your cookie sheet, use two sheets). If the dough is sticky and difficult to manage, dust your hands with additional flour.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 30-33 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow pumpkin biscotti to cool completely before proceeding. Don’t turn off the oven as you’ll need to cook the biscotti a second time.
- Once biscotti is cooled completely, use a sharp serrated bread knife to slice loaves on a bias into slices approximately 1” (2.5cm) thick. Return biscotti slices to parchment paper lined baking sheet, placing cut-side down, and return to 350F (175C) oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and use tongs to carefully flip biscotti, and then bake for another 10-15 minutes. Biscotti should be slightly golden when finished baking and the centers should not appear moist.
- Allow to cool completely before enjoying or drizzling with white chocolate.
White chocolate drizzle
- Place white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20-second increments until smooth and melted. Add pumpkin spice and stir until combined.4 oz (113 g) white chocolate bar, ⅛ teaspoon pumpkin spice
- Drizzle over cooled biscotti or dip biscotti slices in white chocolate.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I originally published this recipe in 2015. I updated the recipe in March of 2023 to improve the recipe a bit, I wanted a more flavorful and crisp biscotti so a few adjustments were made.
Thanks for encouraging me to try making biscotti, Sam! This was my first time ever making it, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought, thanks to Sam’s instructions.
This biscotti was a sweet treat for my meetings this week, alongside coffee and tea.
I desired mine to be a bit more flavorful. (Though, maybe biscotti in general is just more mild than what I desire?) And my white chocolate didn’t drizzle, so I ended up adding some almond milk, and dunking the biscotti in one end.
Thank you!
I’m glad you ultimately enjoyed it, Allie! I’m glad the instructions were helpful. 🙂
There are AMAZING!! Not only was this my first successful batch of biscotti but the flavor balance is absolutely perfect! Highly recommend!
Thank you so much, Leslie! I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Love this recipe. My question is after my third batch. It seems my batches all come out crumbly after the first bake and cut.. Suggestions what I am doing wrong? I make biscotti all the time so I am puzzled. But love the flavor, love the texture too…just wish looked more like biscotti wedges!
Hi Jane! Honestly I am a bit puzzled too, I have not experienced this before. I am going to have to try and troubleshoot it in my own kitchen and get back to you!
Hi.
Looks like I’m a bit late to the game, it being 2019 now. I want to give your recipe a try, but I have a couple of questions. First, do you have any thoughts about using pumpkin purée, rather than pumpkin pie filling, since the recipe is already spiced and sweetened? Also, I’m thinking about cutting the nuts to a half cup, and adding a half cup of dried cranberries. Would that mess things up?
Thanks, Tom
It might need a bit more spice added (pumpkin pie spice would be great if you have some) but other than that it should be fine I would think. Also reducing the nuts/increasing the dried cranberries should be totally fine. Enjoy! 🙂
Can’t wait to try them! One question though, do you brush on the egg before the first bake or the second?
Brush the outside of the log with egg before baking the log.
Hahaaa I’m on the same boat as you -I’ve waded through a sea of canned pumpkin with more failed recipes than I care to admit. I feel like I’m about to go through another one with your recipe though!
Haha, thanks, Anne! 😀
I love pumpkin and these look like just what I need….right now! These biscotti would be perfect for dunking into my coffee.
Thank you, Kathy! 🙂
These look so delicious! I’ll take a plateful! 🙂
Thank you, Marsha!! 🙂
I love making biscotti, but I’ve never made ones with pumpkin before. Delicious! And they’re so pretty!
Thank you, Amanda!!
These look beautiful and so delicious! Can’t wait to give them a try!
Thank you so much, Katie!
Your biscotti is so beautiful! It truly looks perfect. Also very original – I’ve never seen pumpkin biscotti! Also that glaze…heaven!
Aww, thank you so much, Beeta! You are so sweet 🙂
You are speaking my language, girl! Count me in for anything pumpkin spice :). Pinned!
Thank you, Annie!! 🙂
Wow! These are gorgeous Sam! I have never made biscotti before but yours looks absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much, Jess! 🙂
Oooh these look so good! I’ve never made biscotti, but I really love them. And they’re such a great gift! Maybe I’ll have to make some this holiday season!
Thank you, Jess! 🙂
I’d love to dunk this in some chai! So delicious 🙂
Thank you, Medha!!