Making this Spumoni Biscotti takes a bit of work - and some degree of mess - but your efforts will be rewarded with a STELLAR biscotti! Delicious, unique, and beautiful!
Recently, I’ve been on a wild biscotti making tear.
It started out as “I should make a batch of my cranberry orange pistachio biscotti for the blog”, and just kind of went off the rails from there.
“I could make a few holiday themed ones!”
“Well, if I’m making a few, I should do these other ideas I’ve had...”
“Hey, Porter... I’m making a Tiger Tail biscotti, do you want me to make a Spumoni one?”
Spumoni Biscotti
If you remember my Spumoni Cake post, you may remember that it’s my husband’s favourite flavour of ice cream.
Well, FlavourS of ice cream, anyway.
It’s basically a jacked up Neopolitan ice cream.
Well, I guess if we’re being technically, it’s the jacked up predecessor to Neapolitan ice cream, which was actually the simplified version of Spumoni.
Anyway.
Rather than a simple strawberry/vanilla/chocolate ice cream, it’s a “Cherry ice cream with cherries, pistachio ice cream with pistachios, and chocolate ice cream with nuts” situation.
So, when I decided to get weird with it and do up a biscotti based on MY favourite ice cream - Tiger Tail - I thought it would only be fair to do up one based on HIS.
(Note: Be sure to check out my Tiger Tail Ice Cream and Tiger Tail Cake recipes!)
... and here we are!
Anyway, while biscotti is generally incredibly easy to make, this one is a bit more work, and a fair amount more mess to work it.
TOTALLY worth it, though - you’ll end up with a really pretty, super impressive biscotti!
Anyway, while the recipe is at the end of this post, there ARE a few things to go over that will make the whole process go more smoothly for you.
And, you know, some general education type stuff, to appease the Google gods 🙂
What are Biscotti?
Biscotti is a traditional Italian cookie that’s been around for a couple hundred years.
It’s a loose dough baked as a loaf, then sliced up and baked a second time, yielding a very dry, crunchy cookie.
They’re generally served with a beverage, with the intent of it being a cookie to dunk in the beverage.
In Italy, this is typically a fortified wine, served after dinner.
In North America, it’s more of a “with afternoon coffee” thing, though you can really eat them anytime.
Anyway.
In its original form, biscotti was just flour, sugar, eggs and nuts - with no yeast, other leavening agents, or fat.
These days, biscotti recipes can go in different directions, with leaveners, fat, and all/or kinds of other additions added to them (Though generally not yeast!).
Anyway, I like to make them fairly close to the traditional base ingredients - with no butter or oil added - but with the addition of baking powder and baking soda as leaveners.
... and all kinds of nonsense when it comes to flavour additions, obviously 🙂
In this case, we’re talking 3 separate flavoured doughs mashed together for a truly unholy and fabulous modern take!
How do you Make Biscotti?
Making biscotti the traditional way is SUPER easy.
You have a bowl of the dry ingredients, and a bowl of eggs and sugar that you’ve beaten together. Mix them together - you can do this by hand! - form them into loaves, and bake.
Then you just slice them up into fingers and bake again - simple!
How do you Serve Biscotti?
As these are made the traditional way - as a VERY dry, crunchy cookie - you definitely want to serve this alongside a beverage to dunk it in!
Try it with coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or hot apple cider.
Or, you know, with fortified wine - as the Italians do!
Personally, I recommend this particular flavour with hot chocolate, cappuccino, or hot chocolate.
How Long Does Biscotti Last?
Due to its ingredients and dry finish, biscotti has a much longer shelf life than most cookies.
When kept in an airtight container, expect your spumoni biscotti to stay fresh for about 1-2 weeks. Part of it depends on how dry you managed to get your cherries.
Note: It won’t necessarily *spoil* after this, it will just go stale.
Alternately, you can put your (FULLY COOLED!) Biscotti into a freezer bag, suck most of the air out, and freeze it for a few months, if needed.
How to Freeze Biscotti
There are two ways to freeze biscotti:
- Freeze the finished biscotti
- Freeze the biscotti after the first baking / slicing.
Either way, when you’re taking the biscotti out of the freezer:
- If you froze biscotti after the first bake, just proceed with the second bake after they’ve fully thawed.
- If you froze fully cooked biscotti, you can eat them after they’ve thawed, or you can re-toast them.
To re-toast them - really more of a drying than a toasting - arrange them standing up on a baking sheet, rather than on a side.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or so, at 225 F.
Tips for Making this Spumoni Biscotti
Biscotti may be very easy to make in general, but there are a few things you can do to ensure it goes smoothly:
- The dough will look kind of scraggly after you mix it together; it really does benefit from a LIGHT kneading.
Don’t over-handle it, though - you don’t want to develop the gluten in the same way you do when making bread or pasta.
I like to wear Nitrile Gloves when kneading it / transferring to the pan / forming the loaves. I’ll just rinse them off pretty well between the flavours.
- Know that the dough is supposed to be sticky once it’s been kneaded together. Don’t add more flour!
That said, if you don’t get your cherries dry enough, you CAN end up with really wet, unmanageable pink dough.
I like to drain the cherries, then press them between a few layers of paper towels after chopping them up.
If you do find yourself with a cherry dough that’s far more wet than the other 2 doughs, you can add a little flour to bring it to the same texture.
- While parchment paper is generally nonstick, this dough WILL stick to it.
If you spray the parchment in your pan before putting the dough on it, you’ll have an easier time forming the loaves.
While pan spray is best for the parchment, wet hands work better for forming the dough than oiled hands do.
This is true for all of my biscotti recipes, but it goes double for this recipe.
I’ll run my (gloved) hands under the tap, shake them off well, and then form the loaves.
How you form the loaves affects the final shape.
If you like long, narrow biscotti, aim for a relatively even thickness when forming your loaves.
If you like more of a curved top to your biscotti, form the loaf so it’s mounded up a bit more in the middle, along the length of the loaf.
In this case, I ended up with a bit more of the cherry dough, so I mounded it up more in the center.
On that note, I should mention - the arrangement of the colours doesn’t matter so much.
If you end up with more of one dough than the others, try to use that one in the center . It’ll have better proportions, in the end.
Know that the biscotti with get a LOT harder and drier as they cool.
Don’t expect / wait for full hardness when you take them out of the oven after the toasting - if you do, you’ll end up with burnt biscotti in the end.
Biscotti Variations
Mini Spumoni Biscotti
Instead of dividing the dough into 2 loaves, divide it into 4 loaves.
When forming them, keep them the same length as you would have, so you have 2 long skinny loaves.
These will require much less in the way of cooking time, so check for doneness at 12 minutes, and bake longer if needed.
Keep an eye on it!
Softer Biscotti
This recipe is for traditional style, VERY crunchy biscotti.
If you’d like softer biscotti, there are two ways you can do this:
The Easy Way
When toasting your sliced biscotti, do 5 minutes per side, rather than 15.
Decrease the eggs by 1.
When starting, instead of mixing the eggs with the sugar, beat the sugar with ¼ cup softened butter, until fluffy.
THEN add the eggs in, and continue with the rest of the recipe.
When doing it this way, let the baked loaves cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
Sugar Topped Biscotti
You can sprinkle coarse sugar - or coloured sugar - on top of the unbaked loaves, for extra crunch / texture / a pretty finish.
Be sure to pat down slightly on the sugar before baking.
Biscotti Gifting!
Biscotti - especially holiday themed versions like this recipe - make great holiday gifts!
Not only do they have a great shelf life - and are pretty durable! - they can look really pretty in the packages.
I like to buy long, thin clear plastic baggies, and package 1 biscotti per bag.
Some good options are 3" x 11" clear plastic bags or 2"x 10" clear plastic bags.
Then I tie it off and arrange a selection of these individually packaged biscotti in a gift bag with some tissue paper.
One nice thing about biscotti being so easy to make, is that you can make several varieties at once, and mix / match them for variety packages to gift!
I can make 4-5 batches in a morning, easily. I just make a batch, get it in the oven, and make the next batch while that’s baking.
When the first batch is done, I take it out of the oven, and put the second batch in.
While the second batch is cooking, I slice up the first batch and put it aside, then make the 3rd batch of dough.
I’ll continue this way until all of them have had the first cooking / slicing.
Then I turn the oven down and do the second bake for all of them, in batches.
More Fun 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
Lemon Poppy Seed Biscotti
Mint Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Red Velvet Biscotti
Tiger Tail Biscotti
How to Make Spumoni Biscotti
Full recipe follows - at the end of this post - but here's the pictorial overview:
Preheat oven to 350F, Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with pan spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs, until well combined and smooth. Pour into the bowl with the dry mixture, stir to combine.
Divide dough in 3 even amounts, placing 1 each into 2 other bowls.
In one bowl, add ¼ cup of the reserved flour, ½ teaspoon of the almond extract, the chopped maraschino cherries, and a bit of red food colouring. Mix well to combine, set aside.
In the second bowl, add the remaining ¼ cup of reserved flour, remaining ½ teaspoon of the almond extract, the pistachios, and a bit of green food colouring. Mix well to combine, set aside.
In the last bowl, add the hazelnuts, cocoa, and vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.
Using wet hands, roll each dough into a long log, keeping them the same length. Press each together to form one long loaf.
Cut loaf in half, form into 2 long, wide loaves on the prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven, turn heat down to 250F.
Allow loaves to cool for 5 minutes.
Cutting on a slight diagonal, slice each loaf into ½" slices. Arrange slices on the pans.
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.
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Spumoni Biscotti
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¾ cup Granulated sugar
- ¼ cup Brown sugar packed
- 4 Large eggs
- 1 teaspoon Almond extract divided
- ⅓ cup Chopped maraschino cherries Well drained
- Red and Green Food colouring
- ⅓ cup Chopped pistachios
- ⅓ cup Chopped hazelnuts
- ¼ cup Cocoa
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with pan spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs, until well combined and smooth. Pour into the bowl with the dry mixture, stir to combine.
- Divide dough in 3 even amounts, placing 1 each into 2 other bowls.
- In one bowl, add ¼ cup of the reserved flour, ½ teaspoon of the almond extract, the chopped maraschino cherries, and a bit of red food colouring. Mix well to combine, set aside.
- In the second bowl, add the remaining ¼ cup of reserved flour, remaining ½ teaspoon of the almond extract, the pistachios, and a bit of green food colouring. Mix well to combine, set aside.
- In the last bowl, add the hazelnuts, cocoa, and vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.
- Using wet hands, roll each dough into a long log, keeping them the same length. Press each together to form one long loaf.
- Divide loaf in half, form into 2 long, wide loaves on the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven, turn heat down to 250F.
- Allow loaves to cool for 5 minutes.
- Cutting on a slight diagonal, slice each loaf into ½" slices.
- Arrange slices on the pans. 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.
Enfys Book
These are 1000% delicious. I have to stop myself from eating the whole batch while they're warm. Definitely going to make them again.
I recommend getting good-quality gel food coloring - I didn't get terribly vibrant colors from the grocery store cone-capped stuff.
Kat Hill
This recipe took some time, but was so worth it!
I didn’t have hazelnuts, but I had almonds and hazelnut liqueur . Roasted the almonds and the pistachios after chopping then added liqueur to almonds.
I should have added more flour to make the doughs a little thicker, next time.
Kat