Pumpkin Biscotti

It's pumpkin pie as a biscotti! With all the classic pumpkin pie spices—cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and a good portion of pumpkin purée, these pumpkin biscotti are reminiscent of one of our favorite fall pies.

But unlike a soft custardy pie, these cookies are what good biscotti should be—crispy and crunchy. They're great for dipping into coffee, or eating on their own.

You can make these biscotti plain, or adorn them with sweetened dried cranberries and pecans or walnuts. Both work, though the plain version will be a bit crispier.

A Few Helpful Tips About Making Biscotti

• Don't attempt to make biscotti on a humid day; the cookies will absorb too much of the air's moisture and won't be crispy.
• The dough should be a bit wet and sticky. Add flour to the clean surface you are using to shape the dough and flour your hands well. That should help add just enough flour to the dough to make it easy to work with. If for some reason the dough is on the dry side, knead it by hand a few times and if it is still too dry, add water, a teaspoon at a time.
• Space the logs apart on the baking sheet, they will spread.
• Use a serrated knife like a bread knife to cut the biscotti. But don't wait too long after you take it out of the oven after the first bake or it will be too hard to cut!
• Bake longer for more crunch: If you want your biscotti to be crunchier, just keep them longer in the oven during the second bake.

This recipe is a completely revised recipe from one originally published here in 2007. I always had issues with that recipe (too cakey, not enough flavor), and several readers did as well. If you would like the original recipe you can still find it here.