These festive white chocolate cranberry biscotti go perfectly with a warm cup of coffee and a pair of fuzzy socks.

This month’s Recipe Redux theme asked us to kick off the holiday baking season by making a lighter version of our favorite seasonal treats:

The holiday baking season is upon us. Time to pull out all the stops. Show us the healthy holiday dessert you will be sharing with family and friends this season.

There’s nothing more nostalgic than making Christmas cookies. Ever since I can remember I’d help my mom make my grandma’s Scottish shortbread cookies, sneaking wonderfully sugary, buttery bites of cookie dough as often as I could get away with 😉 While making cookies is still among my favorite holiday traditions, since living in Boston for the past 7 years, what I look forward to the most now is spending my mornings relaxed and curled up on the couch with my parents while dunking biscotti into a warm cup of coffee.

Since I won’t be going home for the holidays this year, I figured to help with the homesickness I’d bake up some biscotti of my own but with a festive flare.

The cranberry and white chocolate combo was never on my radar until cranberry bliss bars. Man are those things delicious! But unfortunately, they are also incredibly high in calories and sugar. So instead, I decided to make a cranberry bliss-inspired biscotti that would go just as well with a cup of coffee or latte as those cranberry bliss bars do. And the verdict: so yummy! AND only 120 calories for a large piece!

If you’ve never made biscotti before, trust me when I say it’s much easier than you may think. Simply mix together the batter, divide into two equal pieces (or three if you want to make smaller cookies), shape into a log and pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes. After that, let your logs cool then using a serrated bread knife, cut each log at an angle. Finally bake the cookies one more time for 4-5 minutes on each side.

You could really stop there if you wanted, as the cranberry biscotti on their own are perfectly sweet with a slight vanilla flavor. But, these are the holidays after all, so pour 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips into a double-boiler and melt them down. Dunk the bottom of each biscotti in the white chocolate then allow to cool. To speed up the cooling process, you can place your white chocolate-dipped biscotti in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Now all you need is to brew up some coffee and get dunking!

So here’s a toast to savoring old holiday traditions while also making some new ones!

Print Recipe

White Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti

These festive white chocolate cranberry biscotti go perfectly with a warm cup of coffee and a pair of fuzzy socks.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Cookie, Healthy, White Chocolate

Servings: 22 biscotti

Calories: 118kcal

Author: The Healthy Toast

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries a heaping 1/4 cup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
• 3/4 cup sugar preferably superfine sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white chocolate baking chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
• Combine flour and baking powder in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
• If you don’t have superfine sugar, place granulated sugar in a food processor and pulse until it feels more like fine sand.
• Place sugar and butter in a mixer and beat on high until well combined.
• Add in eggs and vanilla, mix well.
• Slowly add in flour mixture until a stiff dough forms.
• Stir in dried cranberries.
• Separate dough into two equal pieces and form into flat logs. You may need some extra flour for shaping the dough if your batter is too sticky.
• Place logs on prepared baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• Using a serrated bread knife, cut each log at an angle to form individual biscotti (should get about 11 cookies per log).
• Place cut biscotti back on the baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes per side.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• Once biscotti have cooled, melt white chocolate chips using a double boiler. Once melted, remove bowl from heat and dip the bottom of each biscotti in the white chocolate.
• Place white chocolate-dipped biscotti on a cooling rack to allow the white chocolate to harden.
• Enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition for 1/22 of recipe: 118 calories, 4 g fat, 20 g carbohydrate, 12 g sugar, 2 g protein