Cranberry Nut Biscotti by Barbara Schutz

Prep: 1 hour plus cooling Bake: 45-55 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups hazelnuts (also called filberts)
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup dried cranberries or currants

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place hazelnuts in 15 ½ by 10 ½ jelly-roll pan. Bake about 20 minutes or until toasted. Wrap hot hazelnuts in clean cloth towel. With hands, roll hazelnuts back and forth to remove skins. Coarsely chop hazelnuts.
2. Grease and lightly flour 2 large cookie sheets. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In small bowl, with wire whisk or fork, beat 4 whole eggs, 1 egg yolk (reserve egg white for use later), vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon water. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture; stir with wooden spoon, then use hands to knead dough together (dough will be very stiff). Knead in hazelnuts and dried cranberries.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. On lightly floured surface, with floured hands, shape each piece of dough into an 11” by 2” log. Place 2 logs, about 4 inches apart, on each cookie sheet. With fork, lightly beat reserved egg white. With pastry brush, brush logs with egg white.
4. Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake logs 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking time. Let loaves (during baking, logs will spread and become loaf-shaped) cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets on wire racks.
5. Remove loaves to cutting board. With serrated knife, cut each loaf crosswise into ½ inch thick diagonal slices. Place slices, cut-side down, on same cookie sheets. Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake slices 10 to 15 minutes to allow biscotti to dry out, turning biscotti once and rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking time. Remove biscotti to wire racks to cool completely. (Biscotti will harden as they cool.) Store biscotti in tightly covered container. Makes about 4 ½ dozen biscotti.

Other Info (pictures, nutrition, etc)

Each biscotti: About 90 calories, 2 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 2 g total fat (0 g saturated), 20 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.

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