Fun with biscotti continues! Today’s batch is a spiced pumpkin variety, with lovely fall spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger to scent my kitchen. Today, I’ve become aware of why some biscotti are much crunchier than others: it’s all in the total baking time. Surely, total baking time will affect the texture of a treat; this makes perfect sense, but was not something I thought about until I experimented with two different biscotti recipes this weekend.
Yesterday’s vanilla biscotti baked for a total of 50 minutes; 25 as a log, with 20 minutes for resting before the final 25 minutes for outer crisping. Today’s pumpkin biscotti baked for nearly two hours, so I wasn’t surprised to find it very crunchy, definitely more appropriate for dipping into coffee or tea than yesterday’s vanilla (though I’m sure you could dip yesterday’s vanilla into coffee or tea and enjoy it just as well).
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, and sugar; beat on low speed until well-combined.
Add dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.
Spoon dough onto the prepared baking sheet and, using a spatula, form it into a log of even thickness.
Bake for 50 minutes; remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Transfer the log to a cutting board and slice into wedges about 1/2 inch thick; you may need a second baking sheet lined with parchment to accommodate all of the wedges.
Return wedges to the oven and bake for 25 minutes; flip each wedge over and bake another 25 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 
Ok, I’ll be right over to pick some up, Amy! I need some for my tea tomorrow. I find biscotti daunting. I have never made it. Therefore, for now, I will settle for Trader Joe’s pumpkin biscotti. Sigh. How I wish we were neighbors.
oh, how i wish we were neighbors as well! there would be so many fun recipes to share, so much to enjoy over cups of tea. maybe someday!
I have always wanted to try my hand at biscotti making. And this pumpkin version is tempting enough that I might actually try it. But first I need your opinion about cinnamon. How necessary is it? Or rather, how badly will I miss that flavor note if I omit it from the recipe? Mo is a little allergic, so we are entering a tough time of year for baked goods and the kiddo. Could I get away with leaving the cinnamon out? — That’s me being optimistic that she would try it at all. Last time we made homemade chocolate chip cookies together, I handed her a warm one and she handed it back saying, “Too big.” ???!!!?? She can’t possibly be my child!
too big? my dear goddaughter and i are going to have to have a serious discussion about how baked goods can never, ever be too big!
i think you could definitely make this without cinnamon – you might just want to increase the ginger, or nutmeg, to compensate for some of the “lost” flavor of the cinnamon but it should definitely turn out well.