Cherry Almond Biscotti

These were supposed to be pistachio ginger biscotti (my standard), but I was out of candied ginger and pistachios! I think a Trader Joe's run is in my near future.

What I did have were raw almonds and dried Bing cherries. I don't even remember why I bought them.

This is a non traditional biscotti recipe because it uses olive oil. Real biscotti has no butter or oil and the dough is really tough to work with, it also can break your teeth if you are not careful! They are really for dunking in coffee or vin santo......

These are more like a cookie, moist and flavorful, good for dunking or on their own.
Feel free to substitute any combination of dried fruit and nut combination: raisins & walnuts or chocolate chips, or stick to the original recipe which is cranberry and pistachio, but along the way I changed it to candied ginger/pistachio (my favorite).



Today's Biscotti: Cherry Almond

1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup raw almonds, toasted

In a large bowl, mix the olive oil with the sugar, vanilla and extracts.
Next add the 2 eggs and mix all together.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and use some muscle to form a dough (best done w/ a wooden spoon). Add the dried cherries and nuts and combine.

The dough is going to be very sticky, so you have to work with wet hands (preferably w/ cold water).

Mound the dough onto a baking sheet lined w/ parchment paper and form 2 logs.
Shape them about 1" thickness.

Bake in a 300F oven for 30 minutes until golden brown on the top.
Let rest 10 minutes on the baking sheet.

Now comes the hard part (not really!).
Remove the logs with a large spatula and transfer to a cutting board.
Cut the logs into slices and lay back on the cookie sheet, sides down to toast.
Place back in the oven and bake another 6 minutes, then flip and bake the other side 6 more minutes.

Let cool on a rack.
You can make a sugar glaze if you like or leave them unglazed.



Delicious!