Our Highest-Rated Christmas Cookie Recipe of All Time
Home cooks love this "perfect every time!" go-to.
Rob Tanner
There’s no better way to get into the holiday spirit than baking cookies, and our website is full of incredible cookie recipes to choose from. Still, one recipe stands out above all of the top Christmas cookie recipes Allrecipes has to offer—our highest-rated holiday cookie recipe, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti.
Like our most clicked holiday recipe last year, this recipe has Italian origins. Biscotti is an Italian form of almond biscuit that comes in an oblong shape perfect for dipping in tea, coffee, or a cup of festive hot chocolate.
In our recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti, flavorful almond extract mixes with sugar and olive oil to create a delectable nutty biscotti, while pistachios and dried cranberries give the cookie a nice amount of texture and pizazz. You’ll want to whip a batch of these up, along with our most saved holiday treat, Ricotta Cookies, as both are sure to have Santa craving an espresso on Christmas Eve instead of a glass of milk.
Why We Love Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
These salty, fruity, crunchy Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti cookies are popular for good reason. One reviewer says they’re “perhaps the most fantastic cookie [she has] ever made in [her] life, while another says the cookies are the perfect texture, crumbly like a biscuit but “not rock hard like some biscotti.”
Reviewers take plenty of liberties with the recipe as well, adding things like dried apricots, dark chocolate chips, and fresh lemon zest to play with the recipe’s flavor profiles. Reviewers seem to unanimously appreciate that, as long as you follow the recipe, the results remain consistent and delicious each time they bake this popular biscotti.
"“I make these every year at Christmas time,” said Allrecipes user Leah Stark. “My friends, family, and employees all love them. They are a special treat.”
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These flavorful holiday cookies are perfect for any occasion, from holiday entertaining to snacking while watching Christmas movies. They’re also quite beautiful, with hints of green pistachios and red cranberries, making them a great addition to a holiday charcuterie board or dessert spread.
How to Make Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
Athena
These versatile cookies are simple to make, according to reviews, as long as you trust the process and follow the recipe. Start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees F and lining your baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
In one bowl, you’ll want to combine the sugar and olive oil and mix until blended before adding the eggs and vanilla and almond extracts. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, then slowly mix your dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ones. To finish up this decadent batter, fold in cranberries and pistachios by hand.
To start forming your dough into those iconic biscotti shapes, split the dough into two 12x2-inch logs and place them onto the cookie sheet. The dough may be sticky—in fact, many reviewers vouch for this—so be sure to wet your hands before shaping the dough to help prevent messy fingers. Bake these two logs for about 35 minutes in a 300-degree F oven until they’re light brown in color. Then, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. While the logs cool, reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees F.
When the cooling time is over, cut the logs on a diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices. Lay the cookies, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies for a second time until they’ve come to the dry and crunchy texture of biscotti—about 8 to 10 minutes.
These festive biscotti make a wonderful gift as well, so you might want to double the batch while you're in cookie-baking mode.
Read the original article on All Recipes.
