Lemon Biscotti are a delicious blast of citrus sunshine. These are crunchy biscotti, not hard. Enjoy them on their own or as a dunking cookie with tea, iced or hot. Lemon Biscotti are also wonderful served with fruit or ice cream. This versatile cookie is a must for cookie jars and care packages.
I love biscotti. They are deliciously crunchy cookies that stay fresh for a really long time. I like having biscotti on hand for drop-in guests, as well as for packing into long distance care packages. Biscotti can be made in so many flavors!
There are currently 15 biscotti recipes on The Monday Box! I’ve made biscotti that are ultra chocolaty and I’ve made them with fruit jam. I’ve made them decked out in icing, coconut, and sparkling sugar. I’ve even made them marbled or in two layers!
Lemon Biscotti are a great addition to the collection. The refreshing lemon flavor makes these biscotti a lovely warm weather treat. You don’t have to add icing to the already lemony dough, but the extra flavor boost from in the sweet-tart icing will make lemon lovers super happy.
BAKING TIPS FOR LEMON BISCOTTI
- This dough is sticky. Chilling the dough for several hours reduced the stickiness a bit, but not enough to be worth the extra time. To shape the sticky dough into the required log shape, use damp-wet hands and/or a damp rubber spatula. Smooth the tops and sides of the dough log with wet hands.
- After baking the log, use a serrated knife to cut the dough into individual biscotti. If the dough is crumbly, dampen the crust (top and sides) slightly to soften.
- During the second baking, be sure to bake until dry and firm. If, after the biscotti cool, you find that they are not dry and crunchy, return them to the oven to dry out further. Biscotti without icing can be returned to the oven, even weeks later, to bring back crunch that may be lost over time.
- Lemon biscotti made with lemon extract instead of lemon zest and/or lemon juice, stay fresh and crunchy longer. Icing made with lemon juice/powder tends to get spotted after a few days. Use lemon extract instead of lemon juice/powder in the icing if you want the biscotti to look good longer.
RECIPE VARIATIONS FOR LEMON BISCOTTI
Lemon Biscotti are delicious in their simplicity. With or without icing, lemon lovers will be delighted. For variety, there are many add-ins that pair well with the lemon dough. Fold ½ cup – ¾ cup of any of these items into the dough before shaping.
- Chocolate chips (white, dark, semi-sweet, milk)
- Chopped or slivered almonds
- Dried fruit bits (cranberry, cherry, blueberry)
My Lemon Biscotti are decorated with zigzags of lemon icing. For shipping in hot weather you may want to skip icing and send the biscotti plain or topped with large crystal decorating sugar before baking.
These Lemon Biscotti were baked for my most recent military care package. Be sure to check back for my next post which will share the care package theme and directions for creating Lemon Slice Sugar Cookies!
You can read more about desert safe ingredients and find an index of all of the desert safe recipes on The Monday Box by clicking here.
MORE BISCOTTI RECIPES
LEMON BISCOTTI RECIPE
Is it finally warming up where you are? We’ve had some glorious weather the last few days in St. Louis! For the spring weather that’s here and the summer heat that is around the corner, Lemon Biscotti and a glass of iced tea are sure to satisfy.
Lemon Biscotti
Ingredients
Biscotti
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind from 1 medium lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice powder or ½ - 1 teaspoon lemon extract to taste
- 2-3 teaspoons water
- Yellow food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar, salt, lemon rind or lemon extract, vanilla extract, and baking powder.
- Beat in the lemon juice (if using) and eggs. The batter may look slightly curdled.
- Mix in the flour until combined. The dough mixture will be sticky.
- Scrape the biscotti dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Using damp hands and a scraper or spatula, shape the dough into a 13”x 3”log, about ¾" thick. With wet hands, smooth the top and sides.
- For the first bake, bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool on the pan 10 - 25 minutes.
- Reduce the oven to 325°F.
- With a serrated knife, cut the log crosswise into ½ inch slices. If the dough crumbles while cutting, dampen the crust lightly to make slicing easier.
- Stand the biscotti on the prepared baking sheet. Return the baking sheet to the oven for the second bake for 30- 35 minutes, until very dry and beginning to turn golden brown around the edges.
- Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
- TO ICE:
- In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice powder or extract, and water.
- Place half of the icing in a small ziplock bag.
- Color the other half of the icing yellow with a few drops of food coloring (or ½ teaspoon of natural food coloring powder).
- Place the yellow icing in a small ziplock bag.
- Line up the completely cooled biscotti on a wire rack with wax paper under the rack to catch drips.
- Use one color of icing at a time, to allow the first color of icing to begin to dry before using the second, so that the colors don’t blend together. Cut a small corner piece off the ziplock bag, and zig zag the icing over the biscotti. Repeat with the second icing color.
- Dry completely (at least 2 hours) before storing.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 weeks.
Notes
- This dough is sticky. Chilling the dough for several hours reduced the stickiness a bit, but not enough to be worth the extra time. To shape the sticky dough into the required log shape, use damp-wet hands and/or a damp rubber spatula. Smooth the tops and sides of the dough log with wet hands.
- After baking the log, use a serrated knife to cut the dough into individual biscotti. If the dough is crumbly, dampen the crust (top and sides) slightly to soften.
- During the second baking, be sure to bake until dry and firm. If, after the biscotti cool, you find that they are not dry, with a crunchy texture, return them to the oven to dry out further. Biscotti without icing can be returned to the oven, even weeks later, to bring back crunch that may be lost over time.
- Lemon biscotti made with lemon extract instead of lemon zest and/or lemon juice, stay fresh and crunchy longer. Icing made with lemon juice/powder tends to get spotted after a few days. Use lemon extract instead of lemon juice/powder in the icing if you want the biscotti to look good longer.
Nutrition
Jane
When using a standard mixer. Do you use the paddle or dough hook??? Why is the dough so dry after mixing? Do I need to add water???!
Wendy Sondov
I always use the paddle attachment when baking cookies and cakes. The dough hook is really for kneading thick dough for bread. This dough should not be dry. The directions even say to form the loaves with damp hands which is what you need to do to keep wet sticky dough from sticking to your fingers while you form the loaves. The creamed butter and 2 eggs should be plenty of liquid. I can only guess that you either left something out or didn't measure the flour accurately. It is important not to scoop flour because that compacts the flour in the measuring cup and you end up with too much. Always spoon flour into the measuring cup and level off with a knife.
SUSAN ASPEOTES
I love this biscotti recipe and just made a double batch. One hint I have found is : when you first shape the dough into the logs. score the dough with a serrated knife and then do the first bake, After cooling, then you can snap the cookies apart and turn in their sides for the second baking. Saves from trying to slice after first baking and getting a bunch of (tasty) crumbs
Wendy Sondov
I'm glad you found a way to make baking these biscotti easier for yourself! If you are getting crumbs, it is possible that the biscotti have cooled too long. Dampening the top of the dough log would eliminate crumbling. Thank you for sharing your method.
Henry
How deep are you scoring them?
Sandra Bartholomew
Thanks so much Susan what a great idea but making these for years I never thought of doing that. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Margo
This was my first time baking biscotti and they came out perfect. I substituted 2 teaspoons of orange emulsion for the 2 teaspoons of lemon extract. I also used alcohol-free vanilla extract and did not ice the biscotti. Light and delightful!
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Margo. I'm so glad that you enjoyed your orange version of these biscotti. They sound lovely. Once most people find out how easy it is to bake biscotti, a whole world of possibilities open up! Happy baking! Thank you for commenting and rating this recipe. 🙂
Adele Schoterman
I’m wondering if using less better would result in a less fragile product. Any thoughts?
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Adele. I am not sure what you mean by fragile. Did you bake these and find that they broke easily? They shouldn't. Most of the biscotti recipes on The Monday Box, including these, use the same base recipe which produces a sturdy biscotti that travels well in care packages, but they aren't rock solid biscotti like some are. You can munch on these with or without dunking. I do agree with you that using less butter would probably produce a harder cookie, but I don't know if they would be good or not.
Deb
Hello, I love baking & your blog's mission. Had great fun making this Lemon Biscotti, used a gluten free flour, too. Alas, so very fragile! Carefully packaged but keeping my fingers crossed for shipping AZ to MI. Can you also share your packing methods? Thankyiu!
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Deb! I'm glad you found The Monday Box and gave the Lemon Biscotti a try. My daughter has to be gluten free, and i do have a number of recipes that were developed with gluten free ingredients. As I am sure you know, not every recipe converts to gluten free with the same outcome. Most often it effects the texture, either chewy or dry. I am going to guess that the gluten free flour, in this case made your biscotti dryer and therefore more fragile. The recipe as written produces a very sturdy, solid cookie. I like to package all of my cookies, but especially ones that are slightly less sturdy, in bunches. Strength in numbers! If you would bundle your biscotti in plastic wrap in groups of two or three, then stack the bundles in a plastic storage container or freezer weight zip lock bag, they should be fine. Also, be sure there is no movement in the storage container and in the shipping box itself. When cookies move around they break. You picked an excellent recipe for warm weather shipping! I hope your biscotti care pacakge was a huge success! Happy baking!
Monica
Adore all your biscotti and you know I'm a big fan right along with you. I can't seem to stop my constant craving for them and I've discovered my son likes them a lot more lately...I plan to make some in a couple of days. I love them all and particularly when there's citrus like your version of lemon involved. Hope you are enjoying these with a cup of coffee these days...
The Monday Box
Thanks, Monica! Lemon is my warm weather flavor of choice. Its so light, fresh, and vibrant. I love that these biscotti are crunchy, not hard, so that they can be a stand alone cookie. The King Arthur version of this biscotti adds almond flavoring, which you would probably love (knowing that you love all things nutty! 😉 ) .
Carlee
Can you believe I've never made biscotti? They are on my list of things to bake and you just moved them closer to the top!
saltandserenity
Wendy, these are so pretty. What brand of lemon extract do you use? I find that the ones I have tried, smell like lemon pledge, and I can't stand that fake smell.
I have the same tea cups with the birdie on them. They make me so happy every time I take them out to use for a photo shoot. I think they are from World Market. I was so sad when the World market near me in Florida closed. They had the best props.
SassyCindy
Hello,
My name is Cindy. I was reading your comment about the lemon extract. I make my own because it's so easy!! I never buy it at the store anymore. In fact I make all my relatives and friends most of their extracts like lemon, orange, and vanilla. They love it so much they call me when they're running low. It does take about 6 months to make a good flavorful extract so planning ahead is key!
Try it and you'll never buy it again!!
Cathy Bastian
Sassycindy,
Omg! Can you share your recipe for the lemon, orange and vanilla extracts.
It Would definitely be a tasty experiment, bc lemon flavouring is pretty much my most used flavour in my baking, then orange and vanilla. Thank you in advance. Cathy B.
Sue
Ohhhhh Wendy these look so good!
Shannon @ Love At First Bento
These look so yummy, and perfect for spring! I would absolutely love a plate of those to be dunking in my tea right about now - talk about a perfect food & drink pairing! Totally mesmerized by those beautiful icing swirls you did on top too, you are seriously so good at decorating! And your tip about using lemon extract instead is very illuminating - I had no idea it could make such a difference!