Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Chewy dried cranberries lend both sweetness and tartness to these crisp Italian-style cookies and the pistachios! What can I say about the pistachios? Their color, flavor and nutty goodness elevate plain cranberry biscotti to fabulousness. 

We were so well-organized! Weeks and weeks ago, Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook wrote to ask if I’d like to participate in a virtual baby shower for our fellow blogger, Tara of Tara’s Multicultural Table who was expecting baby number two. The theme was going to be biscotti because it means twice cooked. You know, like second time with a bun in the oven. Pretty clever, huh? Who could resist the opportunity to make a big deal out of a second baby AND bake biscotti! Not I.

This whole thing is a surprise party for Tara, who, as far as we know, doesn’t suspect a thing. But the biggest surprise was for us, when the baby came four and a half weeks early! It’s been so hard keeping the virtual baby shower a secret when we just wanted to be shouting from the rooftops. If you follow Tara on Instagram, (and you should!) you’ve seen a picture of the little one. Adorable! Congratulations, Tara, to you and to your newly expanded family!

Now let’s bake some biscotti! I had never made them before but, I can tell you, I will certainly be making them again. My recipe was adapted from this one in The Daily Telegraph.

Ingredients for about 3 dozen biscotti
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup or 340g sugar
Zest 1 orange (I used a blood orange but any orange will do.)
4 3/4 cups or 595g flour
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups or 200g whole pistachios
1 1/2 cups or 200g dried cranberries
4 tablespoons melted butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 300°F or 150°C and prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment or a silicone liner.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs with the sugar until they are glossy, turn a pale yellow and the sugar has started to dissolve.

Use a microplane or small grater to zest the orange into the egg bowl and whisk again.

Measure your flour into another bowl and add the baking powder and salt. Mix well.

Sift the flour mixture into the egg bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a soft dough.

Add in the pistachios and cranberries and work them into the dough.

Divide the dough in half and roll the pieces into logs about 12-14 inches or 30-36cm long. The dough is still rather sticky so I found it easiest to wrap it in cling film and shape it by pressing on the cling film until I reached my desired size and shape.

Place the logs a few inches apart on your prepared cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes. As you can see, one log is longer than the other. I decided not to care and you shouldn’t either. You want to make sure that the logs are baked completely through so, like bread, they should sounds a little hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. I left mine for just over an hour so I turned the oven off when I took them out.

Once the logs are completely cooled, preheat the oven to 300°F or 150°C again. Use a serrated knife to cut the logs into 1/2 inch or 1cm slices. I cut mine on an angle so that the biscotti were longer. My helper dog and I shared the end bits but I still got 36 bake-able slices.

Place your slices on cookie sheets and brush them with the melted butter.

This is the first pan and it held 25 biscotti. The second small pan held only 11.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy!

Are you ready for a virtual baby shower? No gifts, just lots of love and biscotti! 

Many thanks to Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook for organizing this virtual baby shower for Tara! Check out all the other lovely recipes that have been made in Tara’s honor!

• Blueberry Pecan Biscotti from Renee at Magnolia Days
• Chocolate Dipped Biscotti Bites from Nicole at I am a Honey Bee
• Cinnamon Biscotti from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti from Amy at Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Green Tea Almond Biscotti from Rebekah at Making Miracles
• Jam-Filled Mandelbrot from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Maple Walnut Biscotti from Sally at Bewitching Kitchen
• Nut-Free Anise Biscotti with Chocolate Chips from Susan at The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Orange and Dark Chocolate Biscotti from Lynsey at Lynsey Lou's
• Parmesan-Peppercorn Biscotti from Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Spa Water from Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
• Tangelo, Date, and Almond Biscotti from Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories

Fresh Cranberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

A delicious muffin made with fresh cranberries in a vanilla batter which lets the cranberry flavor shine through. These babies would be perfect for Christmas morning or for bringing along to a Christmas brunch. 

T'is the season for fresh cranberries in the United States, and from the looks of the refrigerated supermarket shelves here in Dubai, the trend has spread. Last year I had a comment on muffins I had made with dried cranberries, asking if they could be made with fresh as well. So this recipe is for my friend, Marilyn, who lives in cranberry country, that is to say, the US northeast. I have been a regular reader of her blog, Communicating Across Boundaries,  since I connected with her through a post about Egypt, where I was living at the time and she had lived for many years. I knew I’d met a kindred expat spirit as I read about her struggles to fit in and at the same time maintain traditions while living overseas and raising children. And with the challenges of moving back to the US after a life abroad. Every word she publishes enlightens me and makes me think. If you are a third culture kid or are raising some, I am sure you will love her too.

Along with fresh cranberry muffins, may each of you enjoy the wonderful Christmas I wish also for Marilyn and her family!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 170g fresh cranberries
1 cup or 200g sugar, plus two tablespoons
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup or 60g butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or by lining it with paper muffins cups.

Chop the cranberries roughly and put them in a bowl. Separate 12 little pieces of cranberry to top the muffins with before baking, if desired. Sprinkle the rest with the 2 tablespoons extra sugar and toss to combine.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the rest of the sugar and the flour, along with the baking powder and salt.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.

Add your sugared cranberries in the dry ingredient bowl and toss them lightly with a spoon to coat them.

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ones until just combined. You may still see a little flour showing and that’s okay.

Divide the batter between the muffins cups. Top with reserved pieces of cranberry, if you kept some back.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

Dried cranberries glow like rubies in these beautiful muffins.  Perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

You all are probably laughing at my photo.  Go ahead.  I know it’s ridiculous.  As much as I try to pretty things up with plates and napkins and other props, the bottom line here is that life comes before blog.  What you see there is me on my way out the door to go sailing with friends in Abu Dhabi.  Which is an hour and a half from home.  I baked the muffins and stuffed them warm in a bag to go.  The car was all packed and even the hound was already fully ensconced behind the front seat when I realized that I hadn’t taken a photo of the finished muffins.  So that’s my hand and behind it, my front yard.  And speaking of life, have I told you we bought a small sailboat?  Yep, it’s a Drascombe Longboat and it lives in Abu Dhabi.

Her name is Jade, despite being blue. 

When we aren’t sailing, there is always piddling about to do: cleaning, repairing and general maintenance.  We ended up not sailing on Saturday since weather was poor, but new ropes have been spliced to tie down the boat cover.  It’s a man thing that involves technical knots and fire apparently.

Hard at work, splicing ropes.  Women knit, I was told.  Men splice rope.  Right.
Not to perpetuate stereotypes but I was happy in the kitchen, preparing lunch.   

Anyhoo, the muffins are tasty and perfect for this season of cranberries and holidays.  Make some for Thanksgiving or to bring to a neighbor.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 generous cup or about 135g dried cranberries (Mine are sweetened.)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Generously grease cups 12-cup muffin pan or line with muffin liners.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, canola, vanilla and eggs.

Add all the milk/egg mixture to flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.   Set a handful of the cranberries aside and then fold the rest of them in.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

Top with the reserved cranberries.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing muffins from tin.

Enjoy!