cranberry almond biscotti

enjoy with your favourite tea or coffee...yum

My mom isn't a huge fan of baking (she's a better cook!) but there are a few items she bakes that are absolute crowd pleasers.  This biscotti recipe is one of them!  It's really easy and you can add anything to the base recipe, whether it's walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, different dried fruits...etc.  I like to make it with almonds, cranberries and raisins.  It keeps well for several days and makes a great little gift (for Christmas I wrapped a few in cellophane tied with ribbon and gave it to my coworkers).  

what you need:

• 1 3/4 cup flour (all purpose)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup dried raisins
• 1/2 cup very roughly chopped almonds 

what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix dry ingredients together.
3. Separate one of the eggs into yolk and white.  Reserve a small amount of the white for brushing later.
4. Beat eggs, vanilla, and oil together, then add dry ingredients and mix until a moist dough forms.
5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or grease it well with butter.  Place dough onto cookie sheet and form into a log.  Press log to about 1" height.  Gently brush the surface with the reserved egg white.
6. Bake in the centre rack for 30 minutes.  Remove and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes, then using a bread knife (serrated), slice log into 1/2" biscotti cookies.  Bake for another 20 minutes (checking at 15 minutes) or until golden brown.  

mom doing step 5

after first 30 minutes

after 2nd round of baking