I have so much love for this recipe for Cranberry Orange Biscotti, made with FRESH cranberries instead of dried! They’re flecked with fresh orange zest, with a crumbly and hearty texture from chopped almonds. And they freeze beautifully, so you can take one (or five) out when you want to enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee, or if you have guests over.
Homemade biscotti are easy to make, but do take a little bit of time to complete, since you have to bake them twice. And since they store really well for a few days after baking (or in the freezer for a few months), it’s so worth the time investment.
If you end up with any leftover fresh cranberries from making fresh cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, this is a perfect way to use them up. They add a tart flavor and beautiful color to the cookies, along with fresh orange juice and zest and lots of almonds.
And these cookies aren’t that bad for you- there’s only a half cup of sugar in the whole batch, and the addition of almonds adds protein and healthy fats to the mix!
How to make cranberry orange biscotti
Just mix up the dough, form two “loaves” out of it, bake, slice, and bake again! Making biscotti is easy, but different than your average cookies.
- First, chop the almonds and cranberries using a food processor. Pulse it a few times until a coarse paste-like consistency forms. This is SO much easier, and safer, than trying to use a knife to chop the slippery, round shapes of both the nuts and the cranberries.
- Then, mix up the dough. You’ll cream together butter and sugar, add eggs, and then add the other ingredients, similarly to making regular cookies. Use an electric mixer at first, and a wooden spoon to mix the flour and fold in the cranberries and almonds. I like to use a spatula or butter knife to roughly divide the dough into two portions after I’m done mixing.
- Form two loaves with the dough on a parchment-covered baking sheet. The dough will be super sticky, so you may want to dust the top or your hands with some extra flour to make it easier for you. It’s OK if they aren’t beautiful or sized exactly the same!
- Bake the loaves, then slice them into roughly 1/2″ slices once they’ve cooled for a little while. NOW it’s starting to look more like biscotti.
- Finally, bake the sliced biscotti once again until they’re slightly golden and fully cooked! YUM!
How to store/freeze biscotti
- At room temperature, allow the biscotti to completely cool and store them in an airtight container. They will last for 3-5 days at room temperature. They’ll get a little more crumbly and dry as time goes on.
- To freeze, I recommend placing them on a baking sheet in the freezer, not touching, for about 20-30 minutes. This will flash freeze them, so they are individually frozen and won’t stick together. Then, you can store them in a zip-top bag or an airtight container in the freezer for about 3 months.
Can I use whole wheat flour?
Yes! I’ve done this before and it’s delicious and a bit healthier. Just be sure to use a little less of it- only 2 1/2 cups instead of 2 3/4 cups. You may also want to try a mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. They’re really hard to mess up!
Other desserts using fresh orange
- Cardamom Spiced Orange Olive Oil Cake
- Spicy Gingerbread Cake with Orange Mascarpone Cream
- Orange Chai Spice Cookies
- Sicilian Whole Orange Cake (from Christina’s Cucina)
You may also want to try these Whole Wheat Cranberry Ginger Pecan Muffins (also made with fresh cranberries). Be sure to check out all these holiday baking recipes, too, including this delicious Dutch Butter Cake.
Did you make this Cranberry Orange Biscotti recipe? Please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe
Cranberry Orange Biscotti
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cup whole almonds
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (from about 1 orange)
- 1/4 cup orange juice fresh-squeezed or bottled is fine
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Pulse the cranberries (1 cup) and whole almonds (3/4 cup) in a food processor until finely chopped. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together softened butter (1/2 cup) and sugar (1/2 cup). Add eggs one at a time, and mix for a few more minutes until well combined.
- Add the kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon), orange juice (1/4 cup) and zest (1 tablespoon), and baking powder (1.5 teaspoons). Mix until well combined.
- Gently stir in the flour (2 3/4 cups) until just combined. Fold in the almond and cranberry mixture.
- Divide dough into two parts. Spoon the dough onto the prepared parchment paper and, using extra flour to coat your hands and the top of the dough, form into two long flat loaves (approximately 4" by 13" each). This can be a bit tricky and they will look messy- don't stress out if the loaves aren't beautiful :-)
- Bake the loaves for 30 minutes or until just starting to become golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Turn oven temperature down to 300 degrees.
- Once cool, slice the loaves into 3/4" slices and place back on the baking sheet, cut side up.
- Bake for another 20 minutes.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- Freeze them: These biscotti can be frozen in an airtight container or bag for up to 3 months.
- Whole wheat flour can be used instead of all-purpose. Use 2.5 cups of it instead of 2.75.
- Other nuts, such as pistachios, walnuts, or pecans, can be used instead of almonds. You can also fold in pre-sliced or chopped nuts instead of pulsing them in the food processor.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This post originally appeared on Bowl of Delicious in November 2014. It has been updated with new photos, more relevant information, clearer instructions, and an improved recipe.
CAROL SIMON
Came out great – much to my surprise about half way through. The dough was SO stiff that I had to mix it with my hands and had a really hard time getting the loaves 13″ by 4. However, they came out fine – in fact VERY good as I intend to serve them to my book club tomorrow morning!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Hope you had fun at your book club and that everyone enjoyed!
Mary Anne W
Good recipe. Since I like them more toward the soft side rather thsan crisp. I cut them, turned the oven of, stood cookies up and put them back in, the off ,oven for about 6-7 minutes and the have a lite soft crisp. Very good recipe. Thank you for sharing
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Katen
You did not put the baking temperature or the amount of time???
Elizabeth Lindemann
It’s all in the recipe card at the bottom of the post! You can scroll down or click “jump to recipe” at the top to take you there.
Candis
These turned out so good! I used dried cranberries. I didn’t have fresh. But it turned out great!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Greg
Great recipe, easy to follow. Next time I’ll add some almond extract for an extra almond-pop and toast other side of the biscotti for another 10 minutes.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Greg
Thanks for this super-easy recipe. This is the first biscotti recipe where the dough was really nice to work with (not crazy sticky gooey). I used some mixed nuts; other than that I followed the recipe. After toasting them for 20 mins at 300 degrees F, I did flip and given them another 10 mins. I think they taste great, next time I’ll add some almond extract to give them a little more almond pop. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Love the idea of using different kinds of nuts!
Myra
Can i use frozen cranberries for this recipe? Cause i’m so eager to try it, I’ve been baking biscotti for quite awhile and only uses dried fruits..But this time i have frozen cranberries would that be okay?
Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
I think frozen cranberries would work well! It might be a little “juicier,” so a little more red, but I think it will be fine.
Lisa
Wonderful recipe and I appreciate that the ingredient amounts were repeated during the instructions. I did not big on parchment, but I did bake on stoneware and flipped all the biscotti over halfway through the second round of baking. Looking forward to them cooling so I can have one!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! And thanks for the feedback about the ingredient amounts in the instructions – it’s helpful to know what’s helpful to you! Hope they turned out great for you :-)
Bree
What are your thoughts if the nuts are left out altogether? We have a nut allergy in the home but now sure how they would turn out without them.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’ve never tried it, but I think it’s worth a shot- I think they will come out fine! You may also be able to substitute with a seed, like pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
Tom
This is a great recipe! I’m always looking for the use of fresh cranberries so I had to try it. The tip on pulsing the cranberries and almonds in the food processor works very well. I used my Kitchen aid mixer from start to finish and everything worked out fine. I also turned the slices after the 20 minutes and gave them an additional 10 minutes. Will definitely be making these again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Jan M
Perfect biscotti!! I just took them out of the oven and my husband immediately asked for them. When the whole house smells really nice when they are cooking in the oven. I followed the recipe without any changes and they turned out exactly the way expected – crunchy, not too sweet and with the hint of citrusy smell. It is a keeper! Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked them and that they made your house smell amazing! :-)
Wanda L
Biscotti tastes very good, however the dough was so thick hard to incorporate cranberry mix I will make again but add more liquid or another egg. Also takes much longer for 2nd bake
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for this feedback, and glad the taste was good for you! For next time (or for anyone else reading this comment)- you could add the flour after the cranberry mix- that might help make it easier to mix.
Diane
Hi Elizabeth,
Just took your biscotti out of the oven and oh my goodness they look amazing and the flavor is so good. The one thing is that they are very crumbly compared to other biscotti that I have made. With the amount of liquid in them I was surprised. Maybe just me but I do know that this is a keeper recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked them! I’m not sure why they are so dry, they definitely are on the crumbly side, which I like. But, it’s possible that less cooking time- maybe 25 minutes for the first bake and 15 for the second- could help create a less dry biscotti. I’ll give that a try next time I make them!
Monica
AMAZING! The combination of flavors are so good! I love the fact of using fresh cranberries as opposed to craisins! This is definitely a keeper!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! I agree- the fresh cranberries are soooo good in biscotti!
Ashley
Not too bad. I followed word from word but I wasn’t sure how flat the dough had to be. After I baked it twice, and allow to cool it’s soft like a plain cookie rather than crunchy. Also it needed more salt. I think its best if its a whole teaspoon rather than half. Tastes best with bittersweet chocolate than eating it alone.
Elizabeth
Thanks for the suggestion about the salt, Ashley! When I made this, I wished I had chocolate to drizzle on it but sadly, I did not. Next time :-)
Jace Stroud
Is there a trick about cutting them? I have tried biscotti with nuts before but the cookie breaks apart once you hit the nut.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question. The smaller the pieces of nuts are, the easier the biscotti will be to cut. That’s why I used a food processor to chop mine up- it made the pieces so small, so it was barely an issue for me. That said, I hit a bigger piece every now and then and ended up with a more crumbly piece! If you’re really concerned about it, you can use sliced almonds, pulse the cranberries, then add the sliced almonds and pulse only a few times. That should result in really small pieces without it being too ground up. Hope that helps!
Norma
Ooh my gosh! I had an epic failure. Crumbs everywhere! I goofed somewhere along the way. I’d better stick to buying biscotti as I can seem to follow your great directions.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh no!! Sorry you had a frustrating experience- better luck next time!
lisa
this recipe is horrible, first it didn’t tell you when to add the eggs, but I knew when and also the recipe didn’t call for any vanilla or almond and when your busy, and trusting a recipe, who thinks about it! what a waste of precious time.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Looks like you may have missed the recipe card! I give a run-down of how the recipe works in the post body, but the recipe card (with ingredients and instructions in a traditional format) is at the bottom of the post. You can click “jump to recipe” at the top of the post to take you directly to it, or scroll down until you get past the post body. Hope that helps!
sarahforhealth
I don’t have any oranges and they’re crazy expensive in the store right now. Could I use a combo of fresh and dried cranberries and some Lime juice? Thanks! I’ll post again after I make them.
Elizabeth
I think lime juice would probably be fine! If you have lemons, I may use a lemon just because I think the flavor would go better with cranberries. Let me know how it comes out! :-)
sweetphi
Love the cranberry orange combo! These little biscotti sound amazing!
Elizabeth
Thank you! :)
Oriana | Mommyhood's Diary
Delicious…Love biscotti with a cup of coffee!! A few days ago I was watching a lady making biscotti and it looked a little complicated, at least to me, but your recipe seems more friendly. I am going to try to make these soon. Pinned!
Elizabeth
Thanks, Oriana! They really aren’t too complicated. Usually I post about recipes with fewer steps that take less time to make, but this was an exception because they are just so yummy :-) Hope you like them and thanks so much for pinning!
Hein
Love the flavour combination!
Elizabeth
Thanks! :-)
Lynn Lovejoy from Order in the Kitchen
AH these flavors I’ll take 3 with my coffee please :)
Elizabeth
3? I didn’t stop until 5 :-) Oops!
Maureen
Can I use cessions? I can’t find cranberries yet.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hm, not sure what you mean by this… what are cessions, or was that a typo? Let me know and I’d be happy to help see if it’s a good substitute!