Yup, Linda is correct. It's the shortening as well as the cranberries (adds some moisture) that make it tender rather than hard. Here is my recipe: Almond Biscotti 1 1/4 cup whole unblanched almonds (I buy the toasted unblanched unsalted almonds from Trader Joe and skip the first step below) 2 cups unsifted unbleached all purpose flour 1 cup sugar (I like the organic cane sugar from Trader Joe) 1 level teaspoon baking soda a pinch of salt 3 large eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Roast the almonds for 10 to 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven until lightly browned. Watch closely as they burn easily. Set the nuts aside to cool completely. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lower the oven to 300 degrees. Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl just to mix. Set aside half a cup of the mixture. In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs and vanilla. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the eggs. Stir in the flour from the sides. When too stiff to stir, turn out the gobs of dough onto a surface floured with some of the dry ingredient mix set aside. With floured hands fold the dough over itself until it coheres. Use the rest of the dry ingredient mix to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and work surface. Press the nuts into the dough and keep folding it over itself until they are evenly distributed. Let the dough rest for a few minutes so that the flour will absorb the liquid and make it less sticky. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape each piece into a strip about 2-3 inches wide and about twelve inches long. When cut these will produce about 3 dozen cookies about 4 inches long. It is the cook's privilege to eat the wee end bits! Place the strips on the parchment covered baking sheet leaving at least 3 inches between them. Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. Check your oven to make sure the temperature is correct and not hotter than you think. Let them cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove from baking sheets with a spatula and transfer them to a cutting board. Using a sharp serrated bread knife, cut diagonal bars every half inch. Lay the cookies on their sides on two parchment covered cookie sheets and put them back in the oven to toast for 35 to 50 minutes, depending on how dark you want them. Cool on a rack. Variations: For Lemon-Almond Biscotti Add the following to the beaten eggs: Zest from 3 organic lemons 2 tablespoons lemon juice Omit vanilla Dough may be a little stickier, use a little more flour on the board when kneading and pressing nuts into dough. I find that the lemon version browns more quickly. I use the shorter second baking time. For Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti (a hard, crunchy version, no shortening) Substitute walnuts, coarsely chopped, for almonds (you can toast before baking but I don't) Add: 1/2 cup cocoa powder to dry ingredients 1/2 cup additional sugar to dry ingredients 1/4 teaspoon additional baking soda to dry ingredients 1 additional egg (for a total of 4 eggs) 1 tablespoon white vinegar to beaten eggs Dough may be a little stickier, use a little more flour on the board when kneading and pressing nuts into dough. The Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti are good with one side dipped in semi-sweet chocolate.

For the Holiday Biscotti, the texture is all dependent on how long you bake them the second time. If you don't do the second bake, they are not chewy, but not hard, either. Can't really think of how to describe it...maybe a little firmer than shortbread? I dunno. Heeheehee...I just remembered I bought a book a couple years ago (used) at our local book store. It's called...."Biscotti" by Lou Seibert Pappas. Here are a couple of the recipes from it. I have not tried any of them...yet. Biscotti Nocciole-Cioccolato 3/4 c hazelnuts 4 oz bittersweet chocolate 1/2 c butter 3/4 c sugar 2 eggs 2 T Frangelico or Amaretto 2 c unbleached all purpose flour 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt Place nuts in a shallow pan and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes or until golden. With paper towels, rub nuts while warm to remove papery skins. Let cool. In a food processor fitted with steel blade, grind nuts finely. Remove and set aside. Add chocolate to the food processor and processs until coarsely ground. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and liqueur. In another bowl, combine flour, powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture, mixing until blended. Fold in nuts and chocolate. Divide the dough in half. On a greased and floured baking sheet, pat out the dough into two logs about 1/2 inch high, 1-1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake in the center of preheated 325F oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer from the baking sheet to a rack, let cool for 5 minutes. Place on wood cutting board. With serrated knife slice diagonally on a 45 degree angle about 1/2 inch thick. Place slices upright, 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet and return to oven for 10 minutes longer to dry slightly. Cool, store in tightly covered container. Swedish Cinnamon Slices 2/3 c blanched, slivered almonds 1 c butter 1 c light brown sugar, packed 2 eggs 2 T sour cream 1/2 tsp almond extract 2\-3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour 1 T cinnamon 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp soda 1/4 tsp salt Place nuts in a shallow pan and bake at 350F for 6\-8 minutes or until golden. let cool. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream and almond extract. In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture, mixing until blended. Fold in nuts. Divide the dough in half. On a greased and floured baking sheet, pat out the dough into two logs about 1/2 inch high, 1\-1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake in the center of preheated 325F oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer from the baking sheet to a rack, let cool for 5 minutes. Place on wood cutting board. With serrated knife slice diagonally on a 45 degree angle about 1/2 inch thick. Place slices upright, 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet and return to oven for 10 minutes longer to dry slightly. Cool, store in tightly covered container. Linda

The almonds came out better tasting in the cookies than they did by themselves - by themselves they were a bit bitter, and since I use bittersweet chocolate on top, I was afraid the cookies would taste bitter - they didn't! Next time I think I will buy almonds that are already toasted. For some reason, mine got a bit over toasted, as you can see in photos below: Logs after first baking:Logs sliced; notice the toasted and untoasted almonds:With chocolate (bittersweet):On a plate (Japanese, although it looks Chinese): The toasted almonds taste a bit too toasted, but they are still okay. The ones that I left raw taste fine, but they need a bit more crunch. I might try lightly toasting the almonds, but I seem to have a problem with toasting them enough without toasting them too much. The toasted almonds would have been fine to use in ice cream. The flavor of the toasted almonds reminds me of dark roasted coffee, and I do not drink coffee (as a rule), and this is what may have thrown me off. The Italian cookbook I have (by Giuliano Bugialli) said to toast the almonds at 375° for 15 minutes, but I think next time I will toast them at no more than 325° for 5 minutes. I think they just need to get a bit of the rawness out. These biscotti as they are would be excellent with espresso (or probably any coffee), but they are still good dunked in tea. I cut them a little bit too thick (about 5/8") so that they would all fit in the pan, and I think they would be better at 1/2" thick at most. I had chocolate left over, as I usually cut them between 3/8" and 1/2". Otherwise, I still like this recipe. I'm used to making them with raw almonds, and I think that is acceptable also, especially if sliced 3/8" for the final baking. Anyway, you can see that the almonds got too toasted, although some people may prefer them this way. I prefer a lighter, more subtle flavor, especially since I do not dunk them in coffee. I might try some in Kevin's coffee, but he only buys blond (light roast) coffee, and I think they would be better with dark roasted coffee.

Nekotish, here you go. I got this from a friend several years ago. Peppermint Chocolate Recipe adapted from Alice Medrich 2 cups (9 oz) all purpose flour 1/2 cup (1.125 oz) unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder 2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 4 oz bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, roughly chopped (or use mini chocolate chips and skip the chopping) 8 T (4 oz, 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (7 oz) sugar 2 large eggs 1 t vanilla 1 t peppermint extract 1 cup Andes peppermint crunch baking chips (I usually use half a bag or the whole bag if making a double batch) Note: sometimes it’s difficult to find the Andes peppermint crunch, so you could try the one by Ghirardelli or chop up the wrapped Andes peppermint crunch mints. Preheat the oven to 300 F with a rack in the center of the oven. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add chopped chocolate or mini chips. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until completely integrated and creamy. Mix in the eggs, peppermint extract and vanilla. Add the flour and mix on the lowest speed, just until all the flour has been evenly moistened by the butter-egg mixture. Mix in the Andes chips. Place parchment or a silicone mat on a cookie sheet. Shape the dough on the cookie sheet to form a long rectangle, about 16X4 inches for long biscotti, or divide the dough in half and make 2 shorter and more narrow logs for shorter biscotti. Bake for approximately 35 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes if baking 2 logs), until the loaf is firm but springy to the touch. Rotate from front to back halfway through to ensure even baking. Remove the loaf to cool on the pan. Let it cool for at least 2 hours. (I usually get away with slicing at 10-15 minutes.) Before slicing, turn the oven back on to 300 F. Remove the loaf or loaves to a cutting board. Slice 1/2-inch slices of the loaf and transfer them back to the cookie sheet, standing them upright and about 1/4 inch apart. If you need to, use 2 cookie sheets and place the oven racks in the lower and upper third of the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes, until the biscotti feel dry and crusty. Rotate from front to back (and top to bottom if using 2 sheets) halfway through. Cool the biscotti completely before storing in airtight containers. If desired, biscotti may be drizzled with white chocolate. I use the Ghirardelli white chocolate melts or Callebaut block white chocolate and add a dash of peppermint extract to the melted white chocolate. Right after drizzling, sprinkle with chopped peppermint candy.