If you enjoy the pure flavor of vanilla, you’ll definitely love these vanilla bean biscotti. They’re sweet and crunchy and taste exceptional dunked in hot coffee or tea. I like dipping an end of each into melted white chocolate, which adds a little indulgence but doesn’t overpower the vanilla. I use and recommend vanilla sugar in this recipe. You won’t regret it!
Vanilla bean biscotti is cookie simplicity at its best. Plain? Absolutely not. If you appreciate vanilla’s pure flavor, you’ll have a soft (crunchy?) spot for today’s recipe.
Not all biscotti are created equal and there’s no one perfect way to make them, but I’ve definitely found a favorite. Over the years I’ve turned a basic biscotti recipe into almond biscotti, mocha chip biscotti, dark chocolate orange biscotti, and white chocolate cranberry pistachio biscotti. Today’s recipe comes without all the fluff and add-ins, but I definitely wouldn’t oppose if you added a little something to this dough. (Hazelnuts would be fantastic!)
Tell Me About Vanilla Bean Biscotti
- Texture: Biscotti are a crunchy cookie. And as long as you don’t over-bake them, they won’t break your teeth. The center is crumbly in all the right ways and melts in your mouth, especially when dunked in your warm beverage of choice. If you ask me, slow cooker hot chocolate would make a glorious pairing!
- Flavor: Vanilla vanilla vanilla. Each bite reminded me of vanilla cake and vanilla bean St. Patrick’s Day cookies, though obviously not as sweet. (These are sweet but nowhere near as sweet as cake.) Though you can make the biscotti with regular granulated sugar, I urge you to try vanilla sugar. I could sing its praises all day long, but I’ll keep it short: why have regular sugar when you can have vanilla sugar? It makes a big flavor difference in simple recipes like this.
- Ease: Biscotti are twice-baked cookies, but that doesn’t mean there’s extra work involved.. No special tools required and you don’t need a mixer. A pastry cutter is helpful for cutting in the butter, but you can get away without one. My #1 tip? Don’t overwork the dough. Yes, this recipe actually tells you to work less.
- Time: No cookie dough chilling required and the ingredients don’t need to come to room temperature first. You can start right now if you wanted. I LOVE THAT!
. I know you’ll find all this helpful when you begin the biscotti in your own kitchen.
Get your oven preheated. Again, there’s no dough chilling needed so you can get the oven started right away. You’ll bake two trays of biscotti at the same time, but you can also bake in batches if your oven isn’t large enough.
Start the dough. Combine the dry ingredients including the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. I find 1 teaspoon of baking powder is plenty to provide enough lift, but still keeps the cookies dense and crunchy. With a pastry cutter or fork, cut in cold and cubed butter until the mixture is crumbly.. Then pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla together.
Use a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to bring the ingredients together. It will be a crumbly mess. Don’t over-work or over-think this! Pour it out onto a lightly floured work surface:
Using lightly floured hands, mold the dough into a ball. Do this by kneading (folding) it all together several times. Assuming you followed the recipe, I promise the crumbly mess will come together. Cut the ball in half:
Flatten both halves into slabs directly on lined baking sheets. You want 8-9 inch long slabs, each about 1/2 inch thick.
Brush with egg wash, which is 1 egg beaten with a little milk. If you don’t have a pastry brush, just spoon a little on each slab and spread it around to coat. See all those teeny vanilla bean specks in the dough? Flavor!
Biscotti are twice-baked cookies. Bake the slabs of dough until lightly browned, remove from the oven, then cut the slabs into 8-9 1 inch wide slices. Set slices (cut sides upright) on the baking sheets and return to the oven. You’ll bake them for about 16 more minutes, flipping each cookie after 8 minutes.
You’re done! Vanilla biscotti are crisp right out of the oven, but become crunchier as they cool. A dip in white chocolate is totally optional, but adds a little something extra especially if you’re serving these for dessert. (As opposed to breakfast or afternoon tea, where you may not want something quite as sweet.)
Imagine these at a tea party along with petit fours or tea cakes. So fun!
Sweet Vanilla Bean Biscotti Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the 3 eggs, oil, and vanilla extract together. Pour into the flour/butter mixture and gently mix together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until everything is just barely moistened..
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and with floured hands, knead lightly until the dough is soft and slightly sticky, about 8-10 times. If it’s sticking all over your hands, knead 1-2 more Tablespoon(s) of flour into the dough. Divide the dough in two and place each half onto a baking sheet. Shape each half into an 8-9 inch long slab, patting down until each is about 1/2 inch thick. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top and sides of each biscotti slab with egg wash.
- Bake in batches (or together) for 25-26 minutes, or until the top and sides of the biscotti slabs are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, but do not turn off the heat. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Once the slabs are cool enough to handle, cut each into 1 inch wide slices. Set slices cut sides upright, ¼ inch apart, on the baking sheets. (It’s tricky to set the end slices upright, so just turn them over.) Return to the oven to continue baking for 8 minutes. Turn biscotti over and bake other side for 8 minutes. The cookies will be slightly soft in the centers with harder edges.
- Remove from the oven and cool the biscotti for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before dipping in white chocolate. The biscotti becomes more and more crunchy as it cools. It’s helpful to save the baking sheets for the next step.
- Melt the chopped white chocolate in a double boiler or carefully use the microwave. For the microwave, place the white chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. Melt in 15 second increments, stirring after each increment until completely melted and smooth. Dip each cookie in the melted chocolate and place back onto the baking sheets. Allow chocolate to set in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Biscotti stays fresh covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.
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