Dried Cherry and Pistachio Biscotti

I am slowly venturing into baking in the little condo kitchen. I have none of my tools, they are in storage in Maryland with the rest of our furniture. I am really missing my standing mixer. But, my arms are getting more of a workout, at least.

Another of my farmer’s market finds was local dried cherries. They also sell dark chocolate filled with these cherries – ooh, those are good.

I love making mandel bread, so I figured I would try my hand at biscotti. Dried cherry and pistachio sounded like a great combination to start. I will me making more biscotti – I love these!!

I brought them to a networking event, they were quite a hit. Of course my husband would have preferred if I left them home.

Dried Cherry and Pistachio Biscotti

very slightly adapted from Karen DeMasco in Bon Appetit

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. orange zest

2 tsp. lemon zest

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix together well.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and next 5 ingredients.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture;

Mix together well. Fold in cherries and pistachios.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into a 16″-long log. Brush off excess flour; transfer logs to prepared sheet, spaced 5″ apart. Flatten each log into a 2″-wide strip.

Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until browned and set, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack; let cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 250° and arrange 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third.

Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer biscotti to a work surface. Using a serrated knife, cut each strip diagonally into 2/3″-thick slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on baking sheets.