Apricot Pistachio Biscotti Recipes

APRICOT-PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer on low speed, using paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and beat on medium until coarse crumbs form. With mixer on low, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition; mix in apricots, pistachios, and fennel seeds. Continue to mix until dough forms a ball, about 1 minute.
• On a parchment-lined baking sheet, shape dough into two 2-by-12-inch logs. Bake until dry and set, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. Transfer to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut logs on the diagonal into 1/4-inch slices. Bake on parchment-lined sheets until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on sheets on racks. (Store in airtight containers, up to 1 week.)

PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Lay the pistachios on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from the oven.
• In an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, gradually add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla; mix until creamed. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dough until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the pistachios until evenly distributed.
• Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut in half. Roll each half into a log, each 12 inches long by 1-inch high. Place the logs on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly brown. Let the logs cool for 5 minutes and then place on a cutting board. Slice each log on a diagonal into 12 1-inch thick pieces. Put the cookies back on the cookie sheet and bake 5 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake the other side for another 5 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container.

APRICOT TART WITH PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lay 1 sheet phyllo on a parchment-lined 12-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon butter and brush to coat the entire phyllo sheet.
• Top with another sheet and butter as above. Repeat with 7 more sheets, for a total of 9, buttering as you go. The final, top layer should also be buttered. (The rest of the phyllo can be wrapped and frozen for future use.)
• Dot the top sheet with jam by the teaspoon, then, using a spatula, spread the jam to cover the entire sheet, leaving a 2-inch border.
• Sprinkle a layer of half the chopped pistachios over the jam. Place the apricot wedges, skin-side down, in even rows across the surface, then sprinkle again with remaining pistachios.
• Carefully fold over the edges on all sides of the tart to make a 10-by-16-inch rectangle. Brush folded sides with butter. Sprinkle sugar generously over apricots and folded edges.
• Bake until pastry is golden and apricots begin to color, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes, then cut into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter and sugar in the work bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large bowl and hand-held electric beaters). Cream butter and sugar at high speed until pale, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Beat in lemon zest and almond and vanilla extracts.
• In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. At low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture. As dough is coming together, add the pistachios and mix until incorporated. You will have a soft, sticky dough.
• Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. With floured hands, shape each piece into a log about 12 inches long. Place logs well apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (Logs will spread as they bake.)
• Bake logs for 25 to 30 minutes, until firm and lightly browned all over. Remove and cool logs on a rack until cool enough to handle. (Don't rush this step or you risk crumbling when slicing.) Using a serrated knife, carefully cut into slices, crosswise or at a diagonal. Thicker 1/2-inch slices are easier to cut; thinner slices are a bit more elegant.
• Place slices in one layer on baking sheet and return to the oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes (less for thinner slices). Flip each slice and bake again for another 5 minutes. Let cool completely, until biscotti are crisp and dry, before transferring to a tin.

ALMOND APRICOT BISCOTTI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add whole egg, milk, and extracts, stirring with a fork until a soft dough forms, then knead in almonds.
• Divide dough between 2 sheets of wax paper, then form into 2 equal mounds and flatten each mound into a 5-inch disk. Put half of apricots in center of 1 disk and fold dough over apricots to enclose them (use wax paper as an aid if necessary), then transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Form into a 14- by 2 1/2-inch log lengthwise on 1 side of baking sheet, spreading dough with wet hands. Make another log with remaining dough and apricots, arranging it about 4 inches from first log.
• Brush logs with egg wash and bake in middle of oven until pale golden and firm, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet on a rack 20 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300°F while logs cool.
• Carefully transfer baked logs to a cutting board using 2 wide metal spatulas, then cut logs diagonally into 1/2-inch-wide slices with a large heavy knife.
• Line baking sheet with a clean sheet of parchment. Stand slices, curved sides up, 1/2 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in upper third of oven until biscotti are dry, about 30 minutes (they will become hard as they cool). Transfer biscotti to rack to cool.