Sweet Melissa Sundays: Blueberry and Almond Biscotti

Biscotti are generally not my thing. Too crunchy for my cookie tastes. These traditional Italian cookies are known for their crunchiness through a two step baking process. In the spirit of trying new things as a part of Sweet Melissa Sundays I gave it a go. Drumroll please....

The biscotti are delicious! I'm so glad that I tried these. The almonds, dried fruit and lemon zest are a wonderful blend of flavors. Melissa's recipe calls for dried sour cherries, but I saw a bag of dried blueberries at Costco that I just couldn't pass up. They worked perfectly in the recipe.

I let the dough rest for just under an hour and it was sticky rolling into the logs. But a light dusting of flour took care of it. I was a bit unsure of what the 2 logs should look like in terms of width and thickness...so I made them about 3 inches wide, 1 inch thick and 14 or so inches long. They spread in the oven to about 5 inches wide. The first round of baking went perfectly with lightly golden dough. After the logs cooled I scored them into 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick cookies with a serated knife. To get the biscotti equal in size I placed the end of my index finger on the side of the knife blade so measure 1 knuckle from the previous slice.

I had my first taste of one of the end pieces that wasn't big enough to make the second baking. I was immediately hooked on the flavors! The lemon was bright in flavor and the almond extract gives it a that special twist. So good! I almost didn't want to do the second baking.


Round 2 of baking resulted in slighly browner biscotti than I was hoping for. Next time, and there WILL be a next time, I will reduce the temp in my oven slightly and bake for only 45 minutes. I have to say I preferred the cookie after the first baking...I almost felt some of the brightness of the flavors, especially the lemon zest faded more into the background after the second baking.

Another variation I might try is forming the dough into a log and slicing off round cookies and going for only one round of baking. I have a whole lot of dried blueberries to use up! ;)

Thank you Tracey for selecting this amazing recipe! This one is truly a keeper. For the recipe check out Tracey's site, Tray by Tray. See what other SMS bakers did this week by clicking here.


Up next Sunday...Chocolate Walnut Brownies.