Pistachio Dried Cherry Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

The best holiday presents are homemade – and edible. Cookies are a fabulous gift choice. Who, after all, doesn’t like a cookie, or two, or ten, at holiday time. But they are typically so difficult to pack and don’t do well traveling by mail. Enter these Pistachio Dried Cherry Chocolate Chunk Biscotti.

Biscotti are the perfect holiday “mailing gift.” They pack easily, don’t get stale if it takes them a week to get to their destination, and go well with a steaming cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. 

This particular version won my heart because it is a fun take on traditional biscotti. In that spirit, I couldn’t resist giving it a tongue twister name. (Go ahead. Say Pistachio Dried Cherry Chocolate Chunk Biscotti five times fast and see if you don’t break out laughing.) Like any good biscotti, the ones made with this recipe are crunchy and great for dipping.  And in the traditional vein, the dough is on the sweet side, but not overly so. 

The fun part of the recipe is the add-ins: pistachios, dried cherries and chocolate. If you haven’t noticed, I love to pair chocolate and cherries. First rugelach, then muffins and now biscotti. And now, I’ve discovered that they make a pretty darn good threesome with pistachios. (If you are into the red-and-green theme in a big way, don’t roast the pistachios. Roasting intensifies the taste – a good thing in my view – but it does mute the color.) Those ingredients take these biscotti from mundane to divine in each bite. If you doubt me, just try one. 

This year I participated in the Food Blog Love Cookie Exchange (#FBLCookieExchange.) Each of us sent a dozen of our cookies to three other bloggers. In return, three bloggers each sent us a dozen. I enjoyed scrumptious creations from Lora of Diary of a Mad Housefrau, Kelly Lynn of Kelly Lynn’s Sweet & Treats, and Tina Marie of Gluten Free Foodsmith. (Check out my Instagram feed to see those yummy delights.) My biscotti went out to three other bloggers. It’s been a wonderful way to start off the holiday season. My family and I enjoyed the gifts and thankfully I made a few extra batches of biscotti so that we can enjoy them too. 

Before we get to the recipe, here are a few general tips on making biscotti:

3 Keys to Successful Biscotti

1. Allot enough time. The dough comes together quickly, but you can’t rush the baking. Like cooking ribs, the secret to baking them is long and slow. Plus you bake them twice (first as a log, then sliced and baked again.)  In fact, the name biscotti comes from the Latin biscoctus, meaning twice cooked or baked. The cookies we now call biscotti were first made in Tuscany, from almonds, in the 14th Century. Being twice-cooked, it was so resistant to spoilage that it became a favorite of sailors, including Christopher Columbus. 
2. Get into a rhythm. You make the dough, form it into logs, bake them, slice them, bake them again. Do a few batches. If you mess up a few slices in the first batch, don’t despair. By the second you’ll get the hang of it. By the third, you’ll be singing as you work. Any batches beyond three, I’ll bet you’ll be dancing as you work.  
3. Set out enough workspace. You don’t need a huge kitchen to make biscotti, but it helps if you figure out beforehand where you will form the logs (a counter or table), slice the logs after the first bake, and cool the slices on wire racks. Like mise en place (setting out your ingredients), figuring out workspace makes the process smoother – and allows you to concentrate on making biscotti and singing, rather than frantically moving stuff at the last minute.