I’ve wrapped up work for the year, so now I’ll start my second big push of holiday baking.
In the oven right now: KA cherry-pistachio biscotti.
I don’t have a great track record with biscotti, but darned if I don’t keep trying. These took me almost 90 min to get from opening the recipe to sliding the tray into the oven. Fun times.
One of the very creative Jammys junior baked and decorated some delicious gingerbread cookies. Very proud and quite envious of their decorating skills.
These are fabulous. How lovely.
CRUMBLING when I try to slice. So frustrating.
I read a tip today suggesting to brush a bit of water over the top of the log if it wants to crumble when you slice it.
The recipe specified spraying the logs with water, which I did.
I wound up having to put the logs back in the oven to let them bake more, then rest again, then slice. Still a little crumbly, but at this point I gotta get the second bake started. So Mom and I enjoyed the crumbled bits 
I thought that this group would appreciate this… met a friend for a Christmas drink on Monday, and she gave me this tin of cookie ornaments that she made for me! She packaged them in an old cookie tin she bought at a vintage shop…
It reminds me of a Mackintosh’s toffee tin I have, from the 1970s, but it looks like there’s petticoat shortbread depicted on the right side of the lid.
adorbs.
Serrated knife? I did a side-by-side test a year or two ago, and def preferred serrated.
Serrated.
I AM CURSED, apparently.
I have a recipe for chocolate biscotti with pistachios and dried cherries that I’ve made a few times and I don’t have problems slicing. Tomorrow I can look it up and send it your way.
I wrote on my copy “perfect recipe” … I toast the pistachios first and I prefer to sub dried tart cherries instead of dried cranberries. I still miss the Valrhona chocolate bars Trader Joe discontinued!
This recipe posts great photos showing you each step … I haven’t made many biscotti recipes but I prefer hard rather than cakey ones and these are terrific.
I am too. I have a recipe for chocolate/pistachio/almond/marzipan biscotti that taste great, but they are a pain to slice. I first tried a ham slicer, then a serrated knife, then bought a serrated knife with smaller teeth. Nothing worked.
When I get back to baking I’ll try blitzing all the nuts and chocolate, then spritzing with water. Then again, my favorite YouTube chef (Chef Jean-Pierre) says “water tastes like nothing”, so maybe I’ll try spritzing with Triple Sec (saving the Grand Marnier for sipping).
I’ve had these on my list since you shared them back on CH. I too have a preference for the crunchy, dry biscotti like these made with no added fat in the dough.
I like dry, crunchy too, but have come across some that were jaw breakers, and the only way to eat them was by dunking them. A friend of mine told me that she likes to dunk hers in whisky!
I once broke a tooth on a super-dry “toast” made by the company Raincoast Crisps.
Yes, these aren’t too hard, just right for me.
“Jammys Junior” was raised right to be able to bake & decorate so beautifully. Good job, jammy.
Christmas cookie #4: cherry/cranberry and pistachio biscotti from King Arthur.
After reading the comments on the recipe, which originally contained dried cherries and pistachios, I opted to mix half cherries with half cranberries, chop the fruit very fine to avoid burning, and reduce the total fruit volume. All these were good adjustments. I also added 1/2 tsp almond extract.
As I reported upthread, I had trouble slicing these after the first bake, and returned them to the oven after realizing they were insufficiently baked. They were still a pain to slice and I had some crumbling, but the final result
is admittedly delicious.
