I’ve had biscotti on my list for a longggg time. It only seemed appropriate that the first biscotti I attempted had sprinkles in them, to celebrate my crossing an item off of the list, of course, and also something super crazy cool I got to do this past weekend.
There is this blogger, Sally, who has been one of my biggest influences in the food blogging world since before I even started this blog. Her recipes are amazing, her photos are stunning, and her sense of humor is incredibly relatable (oh, and she seriously loves sprinkles— a lot). I feel honored to be able to call Sally not only a mentor but also, in the last few months, a friend.
A lot of things have occurred since I first started reading Sally’s blog that allowed us to connect, but somehow, by the whirlwind of a perfect storm that must come together to allow a regular gal like me to spend some quality time with one of her biggest influences, Sally and I met for lunch this past weekend. And it was great! We talked about baking and blogging and writing cookbooks and spin class and Snapchat and LIFE. It was a wonderful afternoon!
A few weeks ago, I sent Sally some puppy chow samples along with one of my books, but I knew I needed to bring her a treat to our lunch date that had SALLY written all over it.
Enter: funfetti biscotti.
Sally actually encouraged me to tackle biscotti back when she posted this chocolate-dipped almond biscotti recipe, so I thought it would be fun to bring her my own variety of biscotti. I am really glad I attempted my first biscotti recipe when I did, because it failed miserably, and I still had some time to wipe away my sprinkle stained tears, gather my thoughts, and try again.
You know what they say, second time’s a charm (what?), and here we are. No failing, certainly not miserable, and sprinkles are absolutely everywhere. That’s my kinda recipe.
Are you a fan of biscotti? I always have been, probably thanks to my Italian background, and I have always always been a dunker. Don’t get me wrong, if somehow I have the opportunity to consume biscotti without a dunking beverage, I will in a heartbeat, but biscotti are made soooo much better when they’re just a little bit soggy with coffee. Or milk. Or whatever your dunking beverage of choice may be. The dunk = life.
I will say this… Biscotti are not difficult, but they are a little time consuming. Although biscotti are considered a cookie, the mixed dough behaves more like a bread. Once all of your ingredients are combined, the dough is formed into a rectangle, baked for a bit, allowed to cool, cut into slices, and then baked again. This careful method is what gives biscotti its major crunch. And not to worry– I have step-by-step photos and instructions for you right under the recipe.
There are no weird ingredients in these biscotti, unless you consider almond extract to be a weird ingredient (but if you’re a regular reader here, you are quite familiar). Almond extract (along with butter and vanilla extract) helps give these biscotti their “funfetti” flavor. If you’re allergic or simply don’t enjoy almond extract, it is completely fine to omit it. I promise, there are enough sprinkles in these biscotti to funfetti the place up.
A little more about the ingredients… A bit of vegetable oil prevents the interior from getting dry, but also lends itself to aid in crunchifying (technical term) the exterior. Just one egg binds everything together and helps keep the interior crumbly without being like sand, so that when you dunk, each bite absolutely melts.in.your.mouth! A hefty dose of sprinkles adds a party to each individual biscotto, and while dipping your biscotti in white chocolate is totally optional, I highly suggest it, because…
…you can add more sprinkles to each one! SCORE!
As I said, biscotti are not difficult, they just take a bit of time and patience. They’re a great piece of art to add to your baking repertoire, and you better believe I will be making more varieties of biscotti as the holidays get closer (oh yes, so much closer than you think!).
Grab your ingredients, get to work, and then bask in the joy of a party in your mouth as you dunk your biscotti right on into a steamy cup-o-Joe!
Funfetti Biscotti
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 and 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup sprinkles not non-pareils
- 3 ounces white chocolate you may certainly use semi-sweet, milk, or dark if you prefer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Lightly flour the baking sheet. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together butter, oil, egg, extracts, and sugar until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix with a large wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula until everything is combined.
- Turn dough out onto lightly floured baking sheet and, with floured hands, pat dough into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. My rectangle was 6" wide and 7 and 1/2" long (using a ruler or a ruled silicone baking mat is helpful here).
- Bake dough slab for 20-22 minutes, or until the top and sides of the slab are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, but do not turn off the heat. Place baking sheet on a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Once the dough is cool enough to touch, cut into 1" thick slices using a sharp knife. Cut these 1" slices in half, making a perpendicular slice down the entire slab. Set slices cut sides up on the baking sheet. Return to the oven to bake for 9 minutes. Remove from oven, turn biscotti over, and bake the other side for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet (cookies will become crunchy as they cool). Transfer biscotti to a wire rack to cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
DIPPING THE BISCOTTI
- Place the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave for 20 seconds on HIGH, stir, and heat again as necessary in 20-second increments until completely melted.
- If you would like to dip your biscotti like I did, transfer melted chocolate to a small, shallow dish. Drop each cookie into the chocolate so the bottom gets coated. Turn each biscotto upside down onto baking sheet so chocolate is undisturbed. If desired, add sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
- You may also leave the chocolate in the bowl and dip one side of each cookie in the melted chocolate. Add sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
- You may also choose to simply drizzle your biscotti with the chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate into a decorating bottle or a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle over the biscotti, again, adding sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet, if desired. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
- Store biscotti in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Baked biscotti may be frozen up to 3 months (freeze without chocolate).
Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Lightly flour the baking sheet. Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together butter, oil, egg, extracts, and sugar until combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix with a large wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula until everything is combined.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured baking sheet and, with floured hands, pat dough into a rectangle about 1/2″ thick. My rectangle was 6″ wide and 7 and 1/2″ long (using a ruler or a ruled silicone baking mat is helpful here).
Bake dough slab for 20-22 minutes, or until the top and sides of the slab are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, but do not turn off the heat. Place baking sheet on a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Once the dough is cool enough to touch, cut into 1″ thick slices using a sharp knife.
Cut these 1″ slices in half, making a perpendicular slice down the entire slab. Set slices cut sides up on the baking sheet. Return to the oven to bake for 9 minutes.
Remove from oven, turn biscotti over, and bake the other side for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet (cookies will become crunchy as they cool). Transfer biscotti to a wire rack to cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
DIPPING THE BISCOTTI
Place the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave for 20 seconds on HIGH, stir, and heat again as necessary in 20-second increments until completely melted.
If you would like to dip your biscotti like I did, transfer melted chocolate to a small, shallow dish. Drop each cookie into the chocolate so the bottom gets coated.
Turn each biscotto upside down onto baking sheet so chocolate is undisturbed. If desired, add sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
You may also leave the chocolate in the bowl and dip one side of each cookie in the melted chocolate. Add sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
You may also choose to simply drizzle your biscotti with the chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate into a decorating bottle or a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle over the biscotti, again, adding sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet, if desired. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes).
Love funfetti? Check out all of my recipes containing SPRINKLES.
LOVE this, Lynn! I make biscotti at LEAST once a week (my Italian husband’s most favorite treat) but have never thought of FUNFETTI biscotti — pure genius! Can’t wait to try this!!
You are a biscotti QUEEN! I’m thinking it needs to occur in my kitchen more now. It was so fun!
Best lunch date. You’re simply the best Lynn. Thank you for all the kind words 🙂 Still can’t get over that there is only 1 Tablespoon of butter! It tastes so buttery? Life’s greatest mystery right here.
Mysterious biscotti is the best kind of biscotti… 😉
I am totally gonna make these as soon as possible. Meaning as soon as I can find some allergy friendly sprinkles, that are not non perils. Thank you for making them seem not-so-scary. Biscotti in some cookbooks are very intimidating!
No no no, Joanna! Not scary at all! I hope you give them a try– report back if you do!
These are on the cooling rack! I will admit modifying scared me because I didn’t have a dough at all, more like wet sand, but I pressed on, literally pressing the mix together on the pan to form my slab, and they turned out great! Can’t wait to eat one and dunk it in my afternoon coffee.
Awesome, Joanna! I am so glad you didn’t give up– some of my best recipes have come from just trusting I’ve done the method correctly!
I love this recipe for so many reasons! Who would have thought to put sprinkles IN biscotti? Yes please! I have never tried making biscotti at home but now you’ve convinced me, I REALLY need to!
Yes, Jess, you must!!
This looks simply amazing! Like, I need to go make this. Like right now! Thanks for another great post!
Haha, of course! 🙂
Funfetti just make everything….well, fun! These look great.
You’ve got that right, Kathy!
Haha I’m pretty much jealous you got to meet Sally, she’s a huge inspiration of mine too. But anyway, this biscotti is just too amazing, I love it! It is such a creative idea! 🙂
Sam, I am so lucky to have her as a friend. She’s the coolest! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Biscotti, sprinkles, and SALLY! All sweet and wonderful things.
These biscotti are seriously making me happy. Look at all the sprinkles, and the white chocolate, and the more sprinkles!
I LOVE making biscotti (I keep telling Mum we are Italian not Danish, whatever) and I cannot wait to make GF version of these pronto! They’ll be my first GF biscotti attempt. Oh how I have missed the dunk 🙂
You will DEFINITELY have to make these, especially for the DUNK factor! I’m so glad I attempted them. I thought they were MUCH harder to make than they are. They’re fun!!
This biscotti looks so good! Love all the sprinkles – so cute and fun! 😀
I love this already! Sprinkles in biscotti? Now that’s awesome!
Thanks, Kimberly!
These look so good! I don’t love biscotti, but I think I would love this recipe! Dipped in chocolate, topped with sprinkles- yes, please!!
Haha, sprinkles make everything better!!
not sure what I did wrong, but i just had a crumbly mess that wouldn’t stay together 🙁 added 3T more oil, and a splash of milk before it started sticking together enough… it’s in the oven now, so we’ll see :S
Hi Ashley– how did they turn out? I’ve never had a problem with my dough coming together, and I’ve made a lot of biscotti. You should be able to press it together nicely.
they turned out alright. I’ve never had this problem, and i’ve been making biscotti yearly for about 15 years. The dough was so crumbly, even after squeezing it together it would fall apart. I’ve never had a recipe with so low a fluid ratio… but at the end of the day it worked…
I really love more almond flavor..Could I just switch and put more almond and less vanilla is this recipe? Thank you!! Such a pretty “cookie: to share for the holidays and Easter!
Absolutely!
You and all your magical colorful recipes! I really love how these photos are looking! #proud
I love all of these crazy colorful recipes. Photos are looking great too! #proud
I love anything funfetti – these look amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I like the way you think!
What is the +1 tablespoon of flour for…. sprinkling on pan or as part of the dough?
It’s for the batter!
These look delicious.
It is really super cool that you got the chance
To meet Sally. She is beginning to be my one of my
Inspirations as well. I am starting to teach myself
To cook and bake from scratch.
Sally has a video series called sprinkled.you might want to check that series out.
These look fun.
But do I really have to bake these the second 9 minutes?
They look a little to brown to me.
The first 9 minutes made look just right to me.
Please let me know by e-mailing me at
midnight0675@frontier.com
Hi, Heather– I like to bake mine on both sides for even baking, but if you’d prefer not to, they should still be fine.
These look like a lot of fun, so I will try them this week! Just out of curiousity, why do you bake a slab vs a loaf? I’ve made a lot of biscotti and I’ve never seen that before. Thanks!
Hey, Kim! I’m not sure the verbiage is too different, so this method is just the one I prefer.