This holiday Cranberry Pistachio biscotti is a family favorite. Crunchy cookies filled with craisins and pistachios and dipped in white chocolate.
If you love cranberries this time of year, be sure to try our cranberry bliss bars! Or give our homemade cranberry sauce a try, readers love it!
Why this Recipe Works
Have you ever made your own biscotti?
I started doing it a while ago and found out it’s easier than I thought. This recipe creates a crispy toasted cookie that’s perfect for dunking in your coffee!
Once you learn how to make biscotti you can mix it up with all kinds of different add ins and flavors. I love this Cranberry Orange Biscotti all year long and this time I added in some chopped pistachios too.
They add not only to the flavor of this biscotti, but I love the red/green color of the craisins and pistachios. Just right for the holiday season!
Packed with juicy cranberry flavor and even more crunch from the pistachios, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti works as a breakfast treat, snack or after-dinner dessert.
You can even make a the dough ahead of time and store it in the freezer so you’re never more than a few minutes away from fresh, homemade biscotti!
Be sure to try our Pumpkin Biscotti for fall baking!
Ingredient Notes
- Pistachios – Remove the shells (or buy pre-shelled) and chop finely.
- Candy coating – For the topping, vanilla or white chocolate melting wafers like Candiquik work best.
- Dried cranberries – I used Craisins in these biscotti.
Trust me when I say biscotti is easy to make. It also keeps really well in an airtight ziploc bag, so you can enjoy one every morning! You’re welcome!
Easy Instructions
What sets biscotti apart from other cookies is that they are double baked! After making the dough, you shape it into a rectangular log and bake it.
Then, slice the baked dough with a pizza cutter, lay each piece on its side and bake again. Flip the biscotti and bake one more time to make sure the sides are evenly brown.
After the biscotti cool, dip one side into a bowl of melted white chocolate candy coating. Let the candy coating set, then serve and eat or store!
Recipe FAQs
Stored in an airtight container or ziploc bag, this biscotti should stay crunchy and fresh for up to 2 weeks.
Biscotti don’t freeze well once baked because they lose their crispy crunchy texture once thawed. You CAN freeze the dough, though! Before baking, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag. Bake from frozen adding a few minutes of extra baking time. No need to thaw first!
Cut the logs thinner in width but keep the same thickness so you don’t have to adjust the baking time. You can make the biscotti as wide or thin as you like.
More Christmas recipes
- English Toffee
- Candy Cane Cake
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Grinch Brownies
- Divinity Candy
- Christmas Crack
- Sugar Cookies – perfect no-spread cut out cookies
- Grinch Drink
Easy Breakfast Recipes
See all Breakfast and Brunch recipes
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Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup dried cranberries Craisins
- ½ cup shelled pistachios chopped
- 8 ounce white chocolate candy coating vanilla Candiquik, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until combined, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour and baking powder. Mix until thoroughly blended. Fold in cranberries and pistachios.
- On prepared baking sheet, shape dough into a 12 inch by 5 inch rectangle, that is about 1/2 inch thick. I use a little extra flour on my hands to keep the dough from sticking.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Using a pizza cutter or serrated knife, slice biscotti into 12, one inch wide slices. Lay each slice on it's side, separating them on the baking sheet.
- Bake an additional 10 minutes. Flip biscotti to opposite side and bake another 10minutes. Remove and cool completely before frosting.
- To garnish, dip bottom of cooled biscotti into melted vanilla candy coating. Set on parchment paper (candy coating side DOWN) and allow to dry/set. Once set (about 15 minutes) store in an airtight container or ziploc bag for up to two weeks.
Notes
- Stored in an airtight container or ziploc bag, this biscotti should stay crunchy and fresh for up to 2 weeks.
- Biscotti don’t freeze well once baked because they lose their crispy crunchy texture once thawed. You CAN freeze the dough, though! Before baking, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag. Bake from frozen adding a few minutes of extra baking time. No need to thaw first!
- Cut the logs thinner in width but keep the same thickness so you don’t have to adjust the baking time. You can make the biscotti as wide or thin as you like.
Nutrition
Fresh homemade biscotti beats the store bought cookies by a mile. With white chocolate coating and flecks of red and green for holiday flair, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti make the perfect accompaniment for your coffee all season long–but don’t wait for Christmas time to give them a try!
I made these today following the recipe exactly. They look like perfect store-bought biscotti and they taste wonderful! They sliced perfectly after the first bake and all of the baking times and temperatures given in the recipe were bang on. The next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I will try salted butter and maybe some orange zest or substitute almond flavor for the vanilla. That is the beauty of this recipe – it is flexible and adaptable to your own tastes. This one is a keeper!
Have you tried gluten free flour?
Such an easy receipe and so good! I improvised adding other nuts and chocolate chips and some seeds. So good.
Made these for my hubs today. Included zest from a clementine and mini white chocolate chips. He loved them! Thanks for recipe
Ha, Ha! I love that cartoon. I have seen it before, and it is definitely one of my all time favorites. I even saved it and put it in my scrapbook. It always makes me smile. I love a weird sense of humor. Thanks for giving me a smile today.
I know this is a 5-year-old post, but you still got a laugh out of me with that comic. I didn’t understand at first when you said people were disturbed by Sesame Street characters gathering for a Thanksgiving feast, then I saw the legs. That is funny (at least to me.) If you have anymore like that, I appreciate them (but then again, I am a fan of the Calvin & Hobbes “beheaded” Snowman sculptures). Stay cool, Aimee, and I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving. I also hope your military family can gather together, but if not, I will hope for their safety. Thank you for your service.
Thank you Amanda!! We’re big fans of C&H too!!!
I’ve made these several times already , they are easy and delish ! I like to bake things ahead and freeze them , these do very well . I also find it super easy to split the dough in half then I put it between wax paper to mold the log shape I need . easy no mess.
I have made this delicious biscotti many times and love it. I justify eating many myself by reminding myself that I didn’t dip them in chocolate. This started out as a special treat for our B&B guests in the morning before breakfast was ready. I copied this from The Ponderosa B&B just outside of Coeur d’alene Idaho. What a great way to start the day. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
It’s one of my favorites too!
I made these biscotti for Christmas, it came out great and tasted great, however, it lost it’s crunch after three days of having it. Please advise
Well l got a kick out of the cartoon, and your comments back. I am excited to make this biscotti recepie. I don’t drink coffee, but l love them anyway. I will also make the cranberry white chocolate cookies. Thank you for the great recipes.(and the cartoon)
Would I be able to add some lemon?
Sure!
I love all of your biscotti. I would love to make these into a smaller version for Christmas cookie trays. How would I alter the directions to make them smaller and what would I do with bake times?
You can make the logs thinner in width, but keep the same thickness. If you’re keeping them the same thickness, the bake times stays the same 🙂
I just started making Biscotti. Never had them and completely obsessed now. Thanks for the recipe. OH and the big bird cartoon is hilarious
I have to say that your cartoon was pretty funny. It made me smile on a gloomy day. Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to bake them today!
i am so not ashamed, I didn’t even wait for the white chocolate to harden. These are sooooooo good! Thanks for sharing!!!!
Loved, loved, loved these biscotti! I made them and gave them as gifts to my neighbors. They loved them so much, they asked me to bake more so they can give them as gifts! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
So glad to hear it Hope! It’s a keeper for sure! Happy New Year!
Good Grief! I wish that’s all I had to get bent out of shape about. I have had that cartoon for years and put it on my Fridge every Thanksgiving, it’s a hoot!
Anyway, going to make your biscotti recipe for a special friend and have a Christmas Tea.
Happy Christmas!
Glad others are finding the humor in it 🙂 ENJOY the biscotti, I’m sure your friend will love it!
Lighten up people! It was funny! It’s a cartoon!
Recipe looks yummy!
How do people survive in this world that are offended by a drawing…. oh my. Anyway though this biscotti looks perfect 🙂 love pistachios!
People are so weird sometimes; or they just want to be angry at something. Blegh. I thought it was amusing and I LOVE the look of these biscotti! My mom would love a batch of these around Christmas. 😀
I think you need to make your mom a batch of this biscotti for the holidays. As a mom, I would love it if my kids baked for me (as long as they cleaned up after themselves, Hahaha)!