Crunchy Maple Biscotti are the perfect side-kick to coffee, tea, or milk! The warm flavor of maple syrup shines in this munchable dunkable treat.
Why you'll love this recipe
Biscotti are the ultimate travel cookie. They are meant to be dunking cookies, with a dry, crisp texture which enables the biscotti to stay fresh for a long time.
Traditional Italian biscotti are very hard, as in "you could break your teeth" hard. They are meant to be dunked, not nibbled on their own.
These biscotti are a “dunking optional” sort of biscotti, sturdy enough to hold up to dunking, but tender enough to be munched on independently.
Biscotti made with dried fruit or jam (like Fig Jam Biscotti) often soften if stored more than two weeks, but most other biscotti (like Snickers Biscotti or Chocolate Espresso Biscotti) will stay fresh for up to a month.
This recipe makes a long lasting cookie, ideal for care packages as well as cookie jars.
The dough can be made with either maple sugar or maple syrup. The recipe includes directions for both.
Maple sugar is made from 100% maple syrup and pours just like granulated sugar. Using maple syrup requires a little more flour and a short chilling time to accommodate the extra liquid in the dough.
Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, (maple syrup if using), salt, vanilla extract, maple extract, and baking powder. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour just until combined.
- Place half of the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and, using your hands and a spatula, form the dough into a smooth log approximately 10”x 2” and about ¾” thick. If the dough is too sticky to handle easily, refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Leave at least 4” between loaves for spreading.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow dough logs to cool on the baking sheet for 10-20 minutes before slicing. Slice straight across the log, cutting about 12- ¾” thick biscotti from each log.
- Stand the biscotti on the baking sheet, close but not touching.
- Bake for an additional 15-20 at 325˚F, just until sliced sides of biscotti turn golden.
Storage
These biscotti cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 2 weeks.
Care package shipping tips
The goals of sending a care package include the joy you get from sending your love in a box and the joy of the care package recipient when they open their care package and indulge in the contents.
Getting the contents to their destination intact and as fresh and tasty as possible requires just a bit of know how. These are my five top tips for care package mailing success.
- Choose your recipe wisely. Not all cookies are created equal. The best shipping cookies are sturdy and stay fresh at least five days.
- NOTHING REQUIRING REFRIGERATION (NO CREAM CHEESE FROSTING) SHOULD BE SHIPPED. That may seem obvious to some people, but I have learned that it is not obvious to everyone.
- When you pack there should be zero wiggle room. Cookies that wiggle while traveling do not arrive intact.
- Gently shake your box before taping it up. If you hear something moving around, fix it.
- Use whatever method is available to you to wrap the baked goods as air tight as possible. A vacuum sealer virtually ensures freshness, but not everyone has one. Double wrapping in plastic wrap or bags may be the next best option.
- Never store soft and crunchy cookies in the same bag/container. The cookies will share the wealth of moisture and neither will have the right texture when they arrive.
- Plastic wrap/bags do NOT keep out strong smells. If something mint flavored is in a package, let it fly solo or with other mint items, otherwise, everything will arrive minty whether you intended it or not.
- The same advice goes for not including scented soaps or toiletries in the same box as baked goods. Axe, Brut, and Irish Spring are not meant to be cookie flavors.
More biscotti recipes
Love maple? Next time try these Cinnamon Maple Oatmeal Biscotti! These crunchy cookies make great breakfast biscotti.
Black and White Biscotti are a delicious combination of vanilla and chocolate.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Biscotti make great gifts. Marbling makes them beautiful and the flavors make them irresistable!
Apple Cinnamon Biscotti are the perfect pairing for a hot cup of tea.
Cookies and Cream Biscotti are extra good with chunks of chocolate sandwich cookies.
Lemon Biscotti are crunchy Italian cookies with zesty lemon flavor.
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Maple Biscotti
Ingredients
- BISCOTTI INGREDIENTS:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup maple sugar **see note below for using maple syrup instead
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼- ½ teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all- purpose flour
- **NOTE** for using maple syrup in the dough to replace maple sugar: add ¼ cup maple syrup grade B, use an additional ½ cup flour, and chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before shaping into logs to reduce stickiness.
- ICING AND DECORATING INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons decorating sugar (I used 1 tablespoon each turbanado orange, gold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, (maple syrup if using), salt, vanilla extract, maple extract, and baking powder.
- Beat in eggs.
- Gradually add flour just until combined.
- Place half of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and, using your hands and a spatula, form the dough into a smooth log approximately 10”x 2” and about ¾” thick. If the dough is too sticky to handle easily, refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Allow at least 4” between loaves for spreading.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow dough logs to cool on the baking sheet for 10-20 minutes before slicing. Slice straight across the log, cutting about 12- ¾” thick biscotti from each log.
- Stand the biscotti on the baking sheet, close but not touching.
- Bake for an additional 15-20 at 325˚F, just until sliced sides of biscotti turn golden.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
- Icing: Place confectioner’s sugar in a medium bowl and add maple syrup 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.
- Using a spoon to drizzle or a piping bag, add icing on the top of each biscotti.
- To add decorating sugar, immediately after icing each biscotti, hold over a bowl of decorating sugar, sprinkle the sugar to cover the wet icing. Gently tap excess sugar back into the bowl. Sprinkle each biscotti with decorating sugar before going on to the next.
- Allow to dry completely (about 1-2 hours depending on humidity) before moving.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
First Published: October 15, 2014. Last Updated: June 24, 2022. Updated for better readability and user experience.
Andrea AC
Where are the “**notes” about using maple sugar and/or maple syrup. All that I see are how to wrap these biscotti if you are sending them. I’d rather use maple syrup and brown sugar if sugar is still needed when using maple syrup, instead of while sugar.
Please advise, thank you!
Wendy Sondov
The notes for using maple sugar and/or maple sugar are directly under the biscotti ingredients list on the recipe card. Thank you for pointing out that this is confusing. I will be updating this post soon and will move that information to the bottom with other notes. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Abby
I too love biscotti... seems that club is bigger than I thought...LOL
So Maple is one of my favorite flavors too and I had to read this twice because I couldn't believe that you used the flav-r-bites... I have a bag in my pantry !! I love King Arthur too... I've tried so many of their products over the years ...baked about a zillion cookies, brownies & cupcakes. I have to say I really like how you explain things, I know it makes it easier for the new or less experienced cooks. I'm very glad I found your site. If you get the chance you should try the little gummy bits (King Arthur ) in your muffins, my g'kids just love them. Now I'm off to make these amazing cookies.
Thanks
Reeni (@cinnamonkitchn)
I want to sink one of these into my hot tea right now! Maple is a lovely flavor for biscotti! Thanks for all your great tips - they'll come in handy for the holidays!
themondaybox
Thanks, Reeni! I think the maple flavor is especially wonderful with tea....all sweet and fall-like. 🙂
Winnie
I loooooooooooove biscotti 🙂 Never tried with maple though (but I do have a new bottle at home)
These are great with a cup of hot tea/milk, perfect for this weather
themondaybox
Winnie, we need to start an international biscotti lovers club! I was running to the kitchen to bake your pumpkin chocolate chip biscotti this morning!
BruCrew Life
I'm in love with this maple biscotti! 😉 So very perfect for this time of the year!
themondaybox
Thanks, Jocelyn! Maple is my favorite fall flavor. (Just don't tell the pumpkin police.) 🙂
Ashley
I absolutely love biscotti - and it's one of my favorite things to make when I'm shipping a treat! I'll take a few of these to dunk in my coffee please! 🙂
themondaybox
Thanks, Ashley! I am a major biscotti enthusiast, so I was thrilled to find that several of the other #cookiemonth14 bloggers were also posting biscotti recipes in October. Each one is another opportunity for deliciousness! 🙂
themondaybox
Thank you! These biscotti smell and taste just like maple syrup!
Angi @ SchneiderPeeps
I love biscotti dipped in coffee but I've never made it before. Those flav-r-bites are really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
themondaybox
Biscotti are often intimidating but after making them just once, you will be amazed at how easy they are! Make dough-Bake dough in loaf-Slice loaf- Bake again- EAT and enjoy! I think that even with the two bakings, it is easier than scooping/rolling dozens of drop cookies! I was excited that King Arthur sent me the Flav-r-bites to try. They are an interesting baking ingredient.
chrisscheuer
I think biscotti is so fun and this one looks amazing Wendy. I'm a big fan of anything caramel or maple.
themondaybox
Thanks, Chris! Me too. Fall flavor is all about caramel and maple for me. 🙂
Kay @ The GO Mamas
If I make this recipe, my husband will fall deeper in love with me! He loves biscotti. I will be pinnng this, great recipe/
themondaybox
Thanks, Kay! If I have discovered a way to make a husband fall deeper in love with his wife, I could make a fortune....or just hand them out like crazy and improve our world one biscotti at a time! 🙂 I hope your husband is thrilled with his biscotti and they work their magic. 😉
Pure Grace Farms
I have never tried Flav-r-bites before and now you have me curious. Your biscotti looks amazing. I bet the maple flavoring is out of this world. Would love to have a few to dunk in my coffee this morning. Yum!
themondaybox
Thanks! I had never tried Flav-r-bites before this, Shari. They are an interesting way to add a bit more flavor to baked goods. In the case of these biscotti, I threw in all of the maple flavor possibilities so that maple was front and center! They are a delight with a cup of coffee (or WERE a delight, until we ate them all!).
Monica
Okay, after reading this, I have this urge to buy some maple sugar and flavoring! : ) I'm glad you picked biscotti, which I am also a huge fan of. Have to admit I love the 'break your teeth' kind of biscotti but I am definitely in the minority and need to check out your recipe. I've never had maple biscotti but it's a wonderful idea! And biscotti really is a wonderful treat to send. Thinking about your care packages and all those cookies flying around makes me smile.
Monica
Wendy, I just read this morning that Joy the Baker has a banana bread biscotti recipe (!) in her new book! We need to try that out! ; )
themondaybox
That is so funny, Monica. I pinned that banana bread biscotti to my Biscotti board this morning! Doesn't that sound good?! Agreed, we DO need to try that out! 😉
themondaybox
Until this week, I would have said that you and I are the only two members of the "I Love Biscotti" club, Monica. Biscotti is very underappreciated, I think. So many delicious variations and so easy to make. Suddenly this week, the blogosphere is full of biscotti possibilities! I would love to eat them all (as long as there are no nuts 🙂 ) I hope you will try this texture of biscotti for variety. I think it is both kid and adult friendly. Baking with maple is both delicious and a fabulous way to scent your entire house! 🙂