Making biscotti from scratch is easier than you may think! This foolproof recipe will teach you how to make perfect dense, crunchy biscotti with pistachios and a hint of warming cardamom.
Biscotti are classic Italian cookies named for the Latin biscoctus, meaning “twice baked”. THe dough is baked, cooled, and baked again for that signature crunch.
My mom’s biscotti, made with anise or orange zest, frankly ruined the packaged kind for me! I wanted to make my own version with a different flavor combo: pistachios and fragrant cardamom for a cozy, warming quality. It’s deliciously dense, rich, and crunchy, but never too hard to bite on.
The recipe makes 24 pieces that keep well, making it perfect for the holidays! I like to serve the cookies with spiked coffee or indulgent Italian hot chocolate for a festive after-dinner treat.
Table of Contents
What is in Biscotti? Ingredients and Substitutions
Traditional biscotti is made from a simple cookie base with flour, sugar, eggs, butter or oil, and baking powder. You can incorporate different seasonings from there, like orange zest, nuts, dried fruit, and beyond. Here’s what I used for this biscotti recipe:
- All-purpose flour: Kate, my right-hand woman, said this about using gluten free flour: “I have made this biscotti with 1:1 gluten free flour a few times and it works very well (and I’m no baker, lol)!”
- Baking powder: Gives the cookies an airy quality.
- Butter: It may surprise you that I prefer a little butter in my biscotti instead of oil. I find it helps the cookies from getting too hard.
- Sugar: Sweetens the cookies just enough.
- Eggs: Binds the biscotti dough together.
- Pistachios: Substitute with other tender chopped nuts, like almonds or walnuts.
- Green cardamom: Swap with other warming spices, like nutmeg or cinnamon.
- Vanilla extract: Adds depth. Swap with rum or almond extract.
How to Make Biscotti
The biggest key to making biscotti is to chill the dough for 10-20 minutes after the first bake. Set a timer! If you leave it too long, the dough will be too hard to cut into. But if you begin to slice while the dough is quite hot, they will crumble. Here’s how it’s done:
Make and Chill the Biscotti Dough
- Get ready. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Set aside for now.
- Combine the butter and sugar. To a separate large mixing bowl, add 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened) and 3/4 cup sugar. Use a hand mixer at medium-high speed to beat until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating gently until combined.
- Finish and chill the dough. Add 3/4 cup chopped salted pistachios, 3/4 teaspoon ground green cardamom, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until combined, then stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Spoon the dough on top of the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, get ready to bake. Set a rack near the middle of your oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Shape the dough. When the dough has chilled, remove from the fridge and transfer to a large cutting board. Using floured hands, form a log that’s about 12 inches long (it doesn’t need to be perfect. The dough will spread during baking).
Bake, Slice, and Bake Again
- Bake the dough. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the dough is slightly golden, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.
- Chill, then slice into cookies. At this point, the dough should still be quite soft. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 to 20 minutes. Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the biscotti slices flat in one layer on the baking sheet, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
- Twice-bake the biscotti. Reduce the oven heat to 275°F. Bake for another 30-35 minutes, turning the biscotti cookies over halfway through until crisp. Remove from the heat and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cooled completely, store the biscotti in a loosely covered glass jar or container. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Biscotti
You can certainly wrap up homemade biscotti as gifts, but they’re also great to keep on-hand for entertaining. Serve:
- As part of an Italian-style cookie tray with Baci Di Dama (Italian Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies) and Pizzicati (Italian Pinch Cookies)
- As a side to cozy drinks: Italian hot chocolate, espresso, or mint tea.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup chopped salted pistachios
- 3/4 teaspoon ground green cardamom
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Get ready. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside for now.
- Combine the butter and sugar. To a separate large mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar. Use a hand mixer at medium-high speed to beat until light and fluffy, then reduce the speed to low and add one egg at a time, beating gently until combined.
- Finish the dough. Add the pistachios, cardamom, and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until combined, then stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Chill the dough. Spoon the dough on top of the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, get ready to bake. Set a rack near the middle of your oven and preheat to 350°F.
- Shape the dough. When the dough has chilled, remove from the fridge and transfer to a large cutting board. Using floured hands, form a log that's about 12 inches long (it doesn't need to be perfect. The dough will spread during baking).
- Bake the dough. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the dough is slightly golden, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.
- Slice into cookies. At this point, the dough should still be quite soft. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 to 20 minutes. Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange the biscotti slices flat in one layer on the baking sheet, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
- Twice bake the biscotti. Reduce the oven heat to 275°F. Bake for another 30-35 minutes, turning the biscotti cookies over halfway through until crisp. Remove from the heat and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cooled completely, store the biscotti in a loosely covered glass jar or container. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients, including the cardamom used in this recipe.
- Storage: Biscotti will last anywhere for 10 days to 2 weeks when stored properly. Cool completely on a wire rack, then store biscotti in a loosely covered glass jar or tin lined with a paper towel.
- To recrisp: Heat the oven to 300°F. Stand up the biscotti on your baking sheet so the cut sides are fully exposed to the hot air. Bake for 3-5 minutes.
- Mix it up:
- Use a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon in place of the cardamom.
- Replace the pistachios with blanched almonds.
- Fold in a handful of dried cranberries.
Nutrition
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*This post has recently been updated with new information for the readers’ benefit.
I got it right on the second batch and the resulting biscotti are just lovely. I will say, do watch the video, it’s short and well-done and will answer any lingering questions about what any of the steps doing the dough should look like — and how thin to try and cut the biscuits!
In the second batch, not as many pistachios (some got eaten in between…hmmm…) so added some sliced almonds and that pairing was great. I also used a 5-spice (sort of pumpkin pie spice but it’s homemade) blend for the 2nd batch as cardamom in the first was just really strong.
I saw another suggestion in the comments to add orange zest and I will have to try that with cardamom, I think that would be amazing.
These were a hit at home and at the office. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful, Sharon! I am so glad these went over well at home and at your office. Happy Thanksgiving! And yes, the video does help a lot. So glad you watched it!
Amazing and easy recipe. Thank you! I loved it. Will make it again with almonds.
Yay, Liz! So glad you enjoyed it. And almonds would work great too!
This biscotti is sooooo tasty, perfect with my morning coffee! Great tips, too!
Thanks, April! They’re a family fave!
Such an easy and delcious recipe. Love the cardamom-pistachio pairing here.
Thanks so much, Molly! So glad you liked it
I just made this. It sounded so good but pistachios were the only ingredient I did not have. So I subbed almonds and added a 1/4 tsp almond extract along with the vanilla and a little bit of salt to the flour mixture because I wasn’t using salted nuts. It was absolutely delicious and there are so many possibilities with this recipe. Thank you Suzy!
Yay! Awesome, Melissa! So glad it worked out well for you!
Hi, thanks for this recipe, I tried it this afternoon but I want to check something as mine didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. All looked great until I removed dough from oven the first time and left for ten mins to cool slightly. However, when cutting it with serated knife as suggested it all broke apart as it was soft inside and crunchy on the outside. I proceeded to bake them the second time nevertheless and the flavour was delicious but they were very messy and I wouldn’t serve them to guests. Do you think it sounds like the dough was still too warm when I cut it? I wonder if I should have left it to cool for longer. Any insight would be welcome, thanks!
Hi Mary, it’s hard to say what might have been the issue. It does take a good serated knife and a bit of gentle sawing back and forth. If you end up using a chef’s knife, it can compress and flatten the slices. I have heard that a Japanese knife with a flat-edge blade (Santoku knife) works well.
Really good recipe always yes this one now .Thank you so much.
So glad you enjoyed it!
I can’t wait to try. I’d love to know what your mom’s anise version is? Anise is a big comfort dessert flavor from my family and I’ve never had an anise biscotti. I imagine it’s divine!
Enjoy, Brittany! I’ll give mom a call sometime and get her recipe 🙂 Her biscotti are smaller, sweeter, and then of course she uses anise seed (not star anise)…I don’t know the exact amount
I added orange essential oil to the dough – 4 drops – plus fresh orange zest, both of which go great with cardamom. Then dipped in dark chocolate which I added a little more oramge essential to once completely cooled. Absolutely phenomenal.
Love this version! Thank you for sharing.
I read through everyone’s comments before I embarked on making these. They are currently in the oven for their final tour but I added some of my organic blood orange essential oil, orange zest and dark chocolate pieces along with the pistachios and cardamom. The batter was utterly amazing and I snatched one of the ‘logs’ after the first baking omg!!! so flipping good. Thank you for your suggestion!
This is a great site I am thrilled , love her recipe here and I watched the veggie lasagna which I’m so going to make.
Donna, so glad this biscotti recipe worked out well for you! We absolutely love it too over here. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Turned out beautifully — perfect texture and flavour. New go-to biscotti recipe! Thanks!
Yay!!! So glad you enjoyed it, Sarah!
We made these yesterday and they are delcious! Follow the easy recipe and you will not be sorry. The cardamom is an interesting ingredient–haven’t used in other biscotti–and it is really nice.
Wonderful, Vesta! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your feedback! Hope you find more recipes to try here! XOXO
Ooh, those look like beautiful, crunchy biscotti! I love the flavor combo of pistachio and cardamom that you are using here! Sounds heavenly!
Thanks, Amy! They’re a great combo for sure!
Yummy! These look delicious! These would be perfect with my morning coffee or anytime really! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for checking the recipe out!
Great looking biscotti! This is a very different recipe then I use. Looking forward to trying.
Thanks, Dan!!! I’d love for you to hear back from you on this! It’s a fave!
Ooo, cardamom and biscotti are two of my favorite things. I bet these taste wonderful.
Oh, Rae! They are addictive! Thanks for checking out the recipe.
I love biscotti and this recipe with pistachios and cardamon looks so delicious!! I actually don’t think about hip coffee shops but I can see how others do. My grandmother used to make the best biscotti! Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Thanks, Elaine! I hope you love this recipe!