Easy Decorated Biscotti

Have you ever made biscotti? They’re my favorite. With a delightful vanilla-almond flavor and a crisp-tender bite, they’re a perfect sweet treat to have by the fire with a cup of coffee or cocoa.

Like lots of my recipes, all you need for this one is one bowl and a handful of ingredients. Start with a couple of Nellie’s Free Range Eggs, which are the kind of eggs I feel good about feeding my family. Mostly, I love knowing that the hens are raised on farms with fresh water, nutritious feed, and ample space and shelter. We may not have a hen house in our backyard, but Nellie’s Free Range Eggs are pretty close :)

Now take your eggs and the other ingredients and mix everything together in a bowl until you get a big sticky blob . . .

Then wet your hands with a little water, and form the dough into two long rectangles.

And bake for 35 minutes.

Let the rectangles cool a bit before handling; then slice them, horizontally, into biscotti.

Then back to the baking sheet and into the oven again!

This second baking is what gives biscotti their trademark crispiness – and makes them perfect for dipping in coffee or cocoa :)

The next part is the most fun: Decorating!

Get out some melted chocolate and sprinkles and let the kids have fun!

Sure you might have more sprinkles on the floor than on the biscotti by the end of it. But as I was so wisely reminded by my favorite grocery-store checker yesterday, “Childhood is fleeting, and these are precious times.”

Wishing you all the happiest holidays and lots of messy memories together!

Easy Decorated Biscotti

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup light olive oil

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 2 large Nellie’s Free Range Eggs

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup pecans, chopped

For Decorating: chocolate morsels or chocolate-flavored colored candy melts, sprinkles

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together oil, sugar, extracts, and eggs. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined. Add pecans and mix again.

3. Using wet hands, separate dough into two equal piles on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Spread each pile into a rectangle (about 4 inches wide, 8 inches long and 1 inch thick). Bake for 35 minutes or until light brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 200F. Transfer one rectangle to a cutting board. Using a large sharp knife, cut the rectangle crosswise into 3/4-inch slices. Lay each biscotti on its side on the baking sheet. Repeat with the other rectangle.

5. Bake biscotti for 20 minutes or until crisp. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

6. To decorate, melt chocolate or chocolate-flavored colored candy melts in the microwave. Using a butter knife, spread the melted chocolate on half of the biscotti. While coating is warm, decorate with sprinkles on the tops and sides. If using colored candy melts as well, pipe or spoon onto biscotti to make stripes.

This post is sponsored by Nellie’s Free Range Eggs but all opinions are my own.