These biscotti have been on my site since 2011 – Tessa was just 1 month old. I’ve made them once or twice since then, but haven’t updated the post till now. Pinterest is trending pumpkin cookies but honestly, since I love chewy, crispy-edged cookies and pumpkin produces soft cookies, it’s biscotti all the way. I get to have my pumpkin and my crisp edges.
For whatever reason, we tend to only enjoy pumpkin between September and November. I’m not sure why, because it’s a vegetable (technically it’s a fruit) we get to bake with – tons of vitamin A and C and delicious to boot. These biscotti are orange and black so they’d be great for an October brunch or just to enjoy with tea on chilly afternoons. Pumpkin adds moisture and I like my biscotti crunchy; a few precautions if you too like them crisp. First, slice them thinner than typical biscotti – more like biscotti thins. Next, we bake them longer in round two (biscotti literally means “baked twice”). Lastly, let them cool completely before putting into a container, and only cover loosely. I know there’s a cup of sugar which is more than I typically work with, but it yields a big batch and again, if you cut them thin they’re just as tasty (and you can feel better about eating three).
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Makes about 50
1Â 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. white whole wheat flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1Â 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground ginger
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 c. dark chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flours, sugar, spices, baking powder, salt) in a large mixing bowl.
3. Whisk eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and oil until smoothly combined in a medium bowl.
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined. Dough will be hard to stir – use hands to knead together if necessary.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Grease cookie sheet or cover with parchment/silpat. With wet hands, create two logs lengthwise on the cookie sheet. Should be about 15 in long and 2-3 in. wide.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes on the sheet. Reduce oven temp. to 300 degrees.
8. Move logs to cutting board and slice into 1/2 in. slices. Return to cookie sheet, laying on their sides.
9. Bake for 25 minutes or until crisp and starting to brown.
10. Cool completely on wire rack.
To keep them crunchy, store slightly uncovered. Will keep for at least a week at room temperature.
Hey Becca! Made the biscotti tonight with the kids. Very tasty! The only thing I did different was use wet instead of floured hands to form the logs. It was a little less messy for the 3 & 5 y/o helpers : ) I didn’t measure my logs but with a length of over 12″ and width of about 2″, I was able to get a yield of 25. They’re certainly not going to make it a week at this pumpkin lovin’ house!
Love that, Heather, thanks for the recap! Yes wet hands is the best with sticky dough – I should have done that too. Yay for pumpkin!