New Holiday Classic: The Best Biscotti!

Love a dry cookie for dipping in coffee or enjoying with tea? My friend Beedle bakes up this biscotti recipe each holiday season, and with good reason: It's not too sweet, but still satisfying, with overtones of caramel complimented by a buttery rich toasty pecan flavor. This is destined to become one of our favorites, too, I predict.

Beedle’s Pecan Biscotti

Carmelize Pecans:

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

¾ cup chopped pecans

In a heavy skillet, melt butter over low heat and stir in dark brown sugar, cooking very slowly for a couple of minutes. Add pecans, stir, and turn up heat slightly, shaking and stirring pecans in skillet often, allowing butter and sugar to coat nuts completely and to caramelize. Remove from heat, and spread nuts on a sheet of foil or parchment paper to cool.

For Biscotti Dough:

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz.) butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, blend well, then add eggs one at a time, mixing between additions.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture, mixing until just blended. Gently stir in carmelized pecans.

Divide dough in half. Grease and flour a baking sheet, and pat out two logs, 1 1/2 inches wide,  ½ inch high and 14 inches long at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes, then slice logs at a 45 degree angle into 3/8” slices. Lay slices flat on the baking sheet, and return to the oven for 10 minutes, turning them over once, to dry slightly. Remove from oven and cool on racks completely, at least an hour. Store in airtight containers.

Makes 3 ½ to 4 dozen biscotti