Cranberries & Pistachio Biscottis!!!

Hi guys!!!

Monday hits hard on people who have to return to work. It does seem hard for me as well. My weekends usually start as early as Friday afternoon with my husband coming home for lunch. Then it is 2 days of fun. Either visiting places or just watching one movie after another and lying around lazily all day :-) This weekend was awesome. The weather was great. With clear blue skies, breeze and sunlight till 10 pm... Ahhh!!!! I love such days. In all these 11 months in the UK this is the first time I am seeing consecutive bright and clear days. So we did not waste a single day. Saturday flew by with us visiting a very scenic castle nearby with friends. Sunday was fantastic. We had a barbecue lunch along with a few other friends and it was just awesome!!! After all that fun, I am like the kindergarten kid who cries all the way to school on Monday morning..

I am gonna quit whining about the start of the week and get to the recipe. I love the recipes in Joy of Baking website. I had bookmarked the cranberries pistachio biscotti recipe a while ago and totally forgot about it. Last week, I was going through my bookmarks and found the link again. I got into baking immediately. I loved the fact that these biscottis require no butter in the making. It is just the eggs that bind the whole thing together. The taste was incredible. The only hard part was breaking open the pistachios and chopping them. When my husband was having the last biscotti he asked, "Will there be a box of these on the dining table tomorrow when I get back from work??" I could not help but laugh.

So off to the recipe now.

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cups
Eggs - 2
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Dried cranberries - 1/2 cup
Unsalted pistachios - 1/2 cup

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed till pale and fluffy. It takes about 3 minutes.
3. Now add the vanilla extract and beat for another minute.
4. In a spearate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. To this add the egg mixture and beat till it is properly combined.
5. Finally add the cranberries and pistachios and fold in gently.
6. Transfer this mixture to a well-floured counter and roll it into a log about a foot long. Place this on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.
7. Now take it out and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes. Dial down the oven temperature to 165C. Meanwhile, when the log cools down cut this into 1/2 inch thick cookies.
8. Bake the slices for about 10 minutes and then turn over and bake for another 10 minutes. This ensures that the cookie is crisp on both sides.

Serve hot with coffee or tea!!!