Make the best Orange Cranberry Biscotti to enjoy with your cup of coffee! This traditional twice baked Italian cookie recipe has a famous crunchy texture and is very easy to make!
What are biscotti cookies?
Biscotti are traditional Italian cookies that have a distinct crunchy texture and are meant to be dipped in your cup of tea or coffee. Unlike regular biscuits, these cookies are baked twice, first in a form of a log, then after they are cooled and sliced into individual cookies, baked again until perfection.
Why you will love this recipe
- Easy to make. This recipe is really super easy to make and no dough chilling required! While I prefer to use a hand mixer to make the dough, you can easily use just a spatula to mix everything up.
- SO delicious! These are probably one of my favorite cookies I’ve posted on this blog! They are perfectly crunchy, not too sweet, you can easily have them for breakfast, dessert, or just a snack.
- Change the flavors. Orange and cranberries are my favorite flavor combination. To mix it up, you can add some other dried fruit and nuts of your choice. I have a few ideas for you further down in the recipe.
How to make it
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt, and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add 4 tbsp room temperature butter and ¾ cup granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat it well until light and fluffy.
Then add 2 eggs, 2 tsp orange zest, and ½ tsp vanilla extract. Mix it again until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Using a mixer on a low speed, mix until just combined and don’t overmix!
Then using your hands, lightly knead the dough, so it all comes together in one bowl and cut it in half.
Form the dough on the baking sheet into two rectangle logs, about 8×4-inches. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden color and the top is set.
Then take it out of the oven and let sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to cool off.
When it’s cooled, using a sharp knife, cut the logs into ½ or ¾-inch slices.
Place them back on the baking sheet cut side down and bake again for another 10 minutes, turning them halfway through.
Tips for Best results
- Don’t slice while they are hot! Before you slice the pre-baked cookie logs, let them cool off for at least 20 minutes or more. If you cut them while still warm, they might crumble and lose the shape.
- Use a sharp knife. When you slice the cookie log, make sure you use a sharp knife to get clean cuts. A dull knife might break the tops of the cookies.
- Baking. The longer you bake these cookies, the drier and crunchier they will be. Just make sure you don’t burn the edges.
Options and Substitutions
Decoration. To make these cookies a bit fancier, you can drizzle them or dip in chocolate, then let them set on the parchment paper. Sometimes I also like to top them with sprinkles.
Flavors. While Orange Cranberry Biscotti are my favorite, you can use the base of this recipe and play around with different flavors. Here are a few ideas.
- Vanilla
- Cranberry Pistachio
- Chocolate Chip
- Chocolate Chip and Dried Cherry
- Almond
- Almond Apricot
Frequently Asked Questions
You can keep them on the counter in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Yes. The reason we bake these cookies twice is to make them dry and crisp. They are meant to be dipped in a cup of tea or coffee. If you want them to be a bit softer, just cut the baking time.
More Cookie Ideas:
- Hello Dolly Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
- Pistachio Cookies
- Danish Butter Cookies Recipe
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Spritz Cookies
- Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe
- Amaretti Biscuits
- Apricot Rugelach
Orange Cranberry Biscotti
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt, and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add 4 tbsp room temperature butter and ¾ cup granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat it well until light and fluffy.
- Then add 2 eggs, 2 tsp orange zest, and ½ tsp vanilla extract. Mix it again until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Using a mixer on a low speed, mix until just combined and don’t overmix!
- Then using your hands, lightly knead the dough, so it all comes together in one bowl and cut it in half.
- Form the dough on the baking sheet into two rectangle logs, about 8×4-inches. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden color and the top is set.
- Then take it out of the oven and let sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to cool off.
- When it’s cooled, using a sharp knife, cut the logs into ½ or ¾-inch slices.
- Place them back on the baking sheet cut side down and bake again for another 10 minutes, turning them halfway through.
Notes
- Don’t slice while they are hot! Before you slice the pre-baked cookie logs, let them cool off for at least 20 minutes or more. If you cut them while still warm, they might crumble and lose the shape.
- Use a sharp knife. When you slice the cookie log, make sure you use a sharp knife to get the clean cuts. A dull knife might break the tops of the cookies.
- Baking. The longer you bake these cookies, the drier and crunchier they will be. Just make sure you don’t burn the edges.
- How to Store? You can keep them on the counter in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.
You forgot the cranberry step. I added to the flour mixture.
Interesting dough to work with but some additional flour made it much less sticky. Came out perfect. The orange zest really makes these pop. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe gave a very good texture that sliced cleanly and easily, and a fresh flavour. I found that the biscotti recipes with more butter were more crumbly when I sliced them. This recipe is a keeper!
Thank you so much, Brenda! So happy you enjoyed the recipe;)
Wonderful recipe. Very well explained, step by step.
Only issue that I had is that the tops cracked during the first bake.
How do I prevent this from happening?
Thank you for sharing your recipe
Hi, Pam! A little bit of cracked top is ok. If you get a lot of cracks, you might want to add a bit less flour to the dough, so it will have extra moisture.
This recipe is great! Better than the other biscotti recipes I’ve tried. I will play around with other flavors next. I did need to cook mine longer than suggested, but that’s just my oven.
Thank you so much, Jackie! So happy you loved this recipe!
Can you add slivered almonds to this recipe?
Hi Pat, you can easily add some slivered almonds to these biscotti. They will taste great 😉
When do you add the cranberries?
Hi Teressa. You need to add cranberries after you mix wet and dry ingredients together.
FYI – this part was omitted from the printable recipe so I thought I got the wrong one.
Biscotti are a household favorite from my childhood. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Thank you, Alessandro!
This biscotti looks absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to try it out! This looks super delicious, thank you for sharing this recipe!
One of my favorite flavor combinations, orange and cranberry, in one of my favorite bread, biscotti. It was easier to make than I thought. I’ll be making these again over the holidays.
I bake them this weekend. They turned out delicious. We ate them all in two days, no leftovers. I will bake them again for Christmas that’s for sure. Thanks!
These biscotti were so delicious! I enjoyed them with tea and I’ll definitely be making more for Christmas!
These cranberry orange biscotti came out perfectly crisp and were delicious dunked in a cup of coffee! Helped me get into the holiday spirit.
A great flavor and texture combination with the orange and cranberyy combo. I am getting our cappuccino ready. These are definately dunk worthy!❤
I love biscotti, they’re some of my favorite cookies to bake over the holidays! These combine such classic flavors, I bet they’ll just fly off the table when I serve them to my family.
I like my biscotti pretty crunchy, so thank you for the helpful baking tip. These look amazing!
This orange cranberry biscotti is a great breakfast or afternoon treat with tea. I really love how crunchy it is.
I love a good biscotti recipe. This is perfect for the holidays. Love the combination of orange and cranberry, very festive.