This Lemon Poppy Seed Biscotti recipe takes the classic flavour of the muffin, and re-imagines it in a classic Italian cookie! Fantastic with tea.

I’ve always been a fan of lemon poppy seed muffins, and used to routinely buy one on he way to school, to enjoy with my morning coffee.

Just over a year ago, I went on a crunchy biscotti binge, creating all kinds of gorgeous biscotti recipes - including these crunchy lemon biscotti cookies.

Then life got in the way partway through posting all those Italian biscotti recipes, and this lemon poppy seed biscotti recipe languished in a buried folder on my laptop... until now.

As I was looking through my folders, planning my spring recipes, I came across this lemon biscotti recipe, and the photos we’d taken back then.

I loved these zesty lemon cookies, topped with a tangy lemon glaze back then, and we had a ton of great feedback from those we’d gifted a bunch of varieties of these Italian cookies to at the time.

IMHO, lemon desserts and snacks are perfect for spring. The citrus fruit are in season over the winter, and the bright, fresh flavours are especially lovely this time of year.

... and these lemon poppyseed biscotti will not disappoint!

This lemon poppy biscotti recipe is easy to make, tasty, makes fantastic gifts, and the lemon cookies look great in any cookie jar.

Enjoy them with a cup of coffee or hot tea, or just as a quick snack on their own.

You’ll love how quickly they come together - let me show you how I make them!

Ingredients

This is a simple recipe, and all of the ingredients are either pantry staples, or easy to find in any grocery store.

A few notes for you:

Fresh Lemons

This recipe gets its bright flavor from the use of fresh fruit - both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. I just find that real lemons give a more legit lemon flavor.

That said, if you’d like to boost the lemon flavour a bit, feel free to swap out the vanilla extract for the same amount of Lemon Extract.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

All purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar
Poppy Seeds
Large eggs
Unsalted butter
Pure Vanilla Extract
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt

... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these ingredients go. Like I said... super simple ingredients!

Variations

Lemon Almond Biscotti

If you’d prefer almonds, feel free to skip the poppy seeds, and add 1 cup of Sliced Almonds to the dry ingredients.

White Chocolate Drizzle

I love these with the lemon drizzle in the recipe, but if you would prefer white chocolate, go for it!

Once the lemon biscotti are fully cooled, put 1 cup or so of white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.

Heat in 20-30 second bursts, stirring between each.

Once fully smooth, drizzle melted chocolate over the cooled biscotti. Allow to fully set before packaging or storing.

How to Make Lemon Poppyseed Biscotti

The full recipe follows - in the recipe card at the end of this post - but here’s the visual walk through:

Biscotti:

Preheat oven to 350F, Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper, spray with pan spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set this flour mixture aside.

In a separate bowl - a medium bowl - whisk together sugar, eggs, lemon juice, zest, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients, use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to stir until combined.

Wet hands with a little water, and divide dough in half, form into 2 long, wide loaves on the prepared baking sheet - for the first bake.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven, turn oven temperature down to 250F.

Allow loaves to cool for 5 minutes, the transfer to a cutting board.

Using a sharp serrated knife and cutting on a slight diagonal, slice each biscotti log into ½ inch slices.

Arrange slices on parchment-lined baking sheet - for the second bake.

Bake for 15 minutes, flip each piece over and bake for another 15 minutes, or until desired texture.

Remove from oven, allow to fully cool to room temperature - you can use a wire rack to help them cool faster.

Lemon Glaze:

In a small bowl, whisk together glaze ingredients until smooth.

If too thick to drizzle, microwave for 10 seconds at a time, stirring until runny.

Drizzle over cooled biscotti.

Allow glaze to fully harden before transferring biscotti to an airtight container for storage, or packaged for gifting.

More Biscotti Recipes!

Looking for more fun variations on making biscotti at home? Here are some more easy recipes to try:

Birthday Cake Biscotti
Candy Cane Biscotti
Cranberry Orange Pistachio Biscotti
Fruitcake Biscotti
Gingerbread Biscotti
Keto Biscotti
Mint Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Red Velvet Biscotti
Spumoni Biscotti
Tiger Tail Biscotti

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board!

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Several lemon poppyseed biscotti on a plate.

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5 from 4 votes