This pumpkin biscotti is part of my pumpkin dessert recipes collection it's prepared the same as a traditional Italian biscotti recipe.
I was invited to attend a "cookie exchange". BUT not a normal "cookie exchange". It was the Kansas City Food Bloggers Cookie Exchange. And I was hesitant to bring a traditional Italian biscotti recipe, because I felt it was expected that I add a little twist or be real creative. And I'm glad I found this pumpkin biscotti recipe in one of my grandma's cookbooks.
Although these follow the basic process for baking a traditional biscotti recipe - you will have to take a bit longer to get these to really dry out. And that's what you want. The history of a biscotti is that the wives or moms would make these for their sailor sons (or husbands). They would pack them for their journey because they wouldn't get stale. (A traditional Italian biscotti recipe has no egg to make the cookie safe for keeping awhile.)
If you want a pumpkin flavor and this isn't exactly what you were looking for check out my pumpkin dessert recipes. Thank you for stopping by -
* 2 1/2 cups of flour
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1 teaspoon of baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon of Cassia Vietnamese Cinnamon (Penzey) (normal cinnamon is fine too - I just like Penzey)
* 1/2 teaspoon Cake Spice (Penzey) - (You can use a pumpkin spice here)
* 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
* 2 pinches of powdered ginger
* Pinch of cloves
* Pinch of salt
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree (the can)
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
* Sift together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. And really do "sift" (or use beater to get ingredients mixed but too you need to sift or beat for the "air pump")
* In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla extract.
* Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture.
* Mix until it's crumble-y.
* Spray the kitchen counter with Pam and lightly work the dough till it's together
* Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with waxed paper or parchment paper.
* Shape the dough into a log - either one big log or two smaller logs.
* The loaf/loaves should be only 1/2 inch high.
* Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F - or until the center is firm when you press the log.
* The smaller loaves need about 25 minutes to cook.
* Let biscotti log cool for 20-25 minutes
* Take a serrated knife and cut into 1/2 inch wide pieces.
* Turn the oven to 300 F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
* Cool completely.
* If the cookie still looks moist after the second baking - leave them out to dry (only if you don't have animals or family that will eat them) Another drying method I use is to shut the oven door and turn off the heat.
* Give yourself for prep and baking. That would be a safe estimate.
Yup. You really do. You are almost looking for a pumpkie pie flavor within the biscotti. You don't need Penzey spices. I just happened to LOVE them. Any brand will do. You just need a lot of flavoring with this.
Pumpkin biscotti is no different in baking than any other biscotti. So generally I've found if ANY biscotti is too tough- you may have cut them too thick (I do this a lot.) If they are too soft - you probably didn't dry them enough in the second baking.
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