I hope you are all having a good break. I hope you have a wonderful year to come, a vaccine to keep you safe, a year filled with happiness and health, time with family and friends and good food! Happy New Year, 2021!

Many many years ago, I would make pistachio biscotti during christmas. I completely forgot about it till recently and decided to make it for Christmas this year. Since I was giving them to others, I decided to try a nut-free option. You could add pistachio and almonds instead of cranberry. In India, we get a biscuit called rusk, the texture reminds me of rusk, of course rusk is less sweet and does not have nuts and fruits. This is great to have with your cup of tea or coffee. I quadrupled this recipe.

Biscotti is twice baked to get it crispy. To start off the dough is very sticky. I dusted the parchment paper with flour and used the parchment paper to roll it before patting it. Easy to make and stays for long in an airtight container. I found this slightly sweeter (not overly sweet) and next time I might reduce the sugar a bit. If you want to make it like a rusk reduce the sugar, add some anise seeds to it. I quadrupled the recipe and therefore the picture has so many slices. Enjoy!

Ingredients (2 dozen slices)

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal (gives it a grainy texture. You can omit this and add 1/2 cup flour instead)
• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) butter
• 3/4 sugar (can reduce to 1/2 cup)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup cranberries (can be substituted with chopped nuts)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC)
• Mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and keep aside
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter , sugar, orange zest together. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat.
• Add dry ingredients and mix
• Stir in cranberries and mix. The dough will be sticky
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add some flour
• Spoon in half the dough and form a log. Use the the parchment paper to roll.
• Pat them to make them flat (1 inch)
• Bake for 25 minutes
• Remove and sprinkle with room temperature water (saw this in King Arthur website- it was said it is easier to cut)
• Let cool
• Reduce temperature to 325ºF

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