Orange Earl Grey Biscotti
My Orange Earl Grey Biscotti cookies pair so well with a hot cup of tea! These treats highlight the bright, floral, and zesty flavor notes of oranges and bergamot, in a delectable, dippable cookie drizzled with rich dark chocolate (or mellow white chocolate). Try this with your morning (or evening) coffee or tea and you’ll see what I mean!
I got inspired by this flavor combination at a chocolate shop in Washington, DC. When we visited some friends last fall, we stopped at a chocolate shop on our way back to the metro after brunch. I bought a bar that immediately caught my eye: it was dark chocolate flavored with orange and Earl Grey. Honestly I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. It was floral, zesty, bright, rich, and delicious. I savored that bar, ate it tiny piece by tiny piece, and made it last as long as I could.
I’ve been wanting to bake something with this flavor combination ever since. Biscotti seemed like a perfect test subject for it!
Biscotti means “twice baked,” which is how biscotti get its crispy texture. It’s baked in one big piece at first, then sliced and baked a second time to really dry it out. The final cookie is super dense and crispy, making it ideal for dunking in coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at baking biscotti for a while. After seeing it done on a recent season of Great British Bakeoff, I really wanted to give it a shot. For some reason I always thought biscotti would be super tricky to bake. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it’s not that hard at all! I made a batch at Christmas as part of my treat boxes, and couldn’t wait to try again.
For this recipe, I used King Arthur Baking’s Vanilla Biscotti as my base. That’s a really great basic biscotti recipe that you can really add any flavor you want to it. For me, I simply added some fresh orange zest, a little squeeze of orange juice, and some dry Earl Grey tea.
How to Make Orange Earl Grey Biscotti
To make it, you will need:
- Flour
- Butter (softened, of course)
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Orange zest and juice
- Earl Grey teabags
- Chocolate, for dipping and drizzling
First, preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
Combine the softened butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest and juice in a mixing bowl. Beat until well combined, smooth and creamy. Then add each egg, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
Sift in the flour. Tear open two Earl Grey teabags and pour the dry tea into the bowl with the flour. Mix again, carefully, until a thick, sticky dough forms.
Divide the dough into two, and using wet hands, place each half on the prepared baking sheet. Carefully shape each half into a rectangle, roughly 1/2 – 1 inch thick, 10-ish inches long.
Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are golden and mostly dry. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
When the two halves are cooled, use a serrated knife (like a bread knife) to carefully slice them into the biscotti cookies. Make them about 1/2 inch thick. Then place them back on the baking sheet, spaced apart, standing them on their sides.
Bake them again for 20-22 minutes, until they’re harder and crispy. Remove the baked biscotti from the oven and let cool.
When they’re cooled, dip or drizzle them with melted chocolate, and decorate however you please. They’re delicious plain, but a drizzle of chocolate is always a nice touch! I also sprinkled some orange zest mixed with sugar over the chocolate before it cooled.
Biscotti will store in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks. So you’ve got plenty of time to enjoy it!
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Orange Earl Grey Biscotti
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp softened butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 orange zest and juice
- 2 tsp dried Earl Grey tea (from tea bags)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the butter, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, orange zest and juice, and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix until smooth and creamy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Carefully sift in the flour and dried Earl Grey tea, and mix again until a thick, sticky dough forms.
- Divide the dough in half and place each piece on the prepared baking sheet. Carefully pat and shape each piece into a rectangle roughly 1/2 - 1 inch thick.
- Bake for 22 minutes, until the top of each log is golden and dry. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Once they're cooled, use a serrated knife to slice each piece into 1/2-inch wide cookies. Stand each cookie on its side on the baking sheet.
- Bake again for 20-22 minutes, until the cookies are completely dried out and crispy.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Dip and decorate as desired.
- Biscotti will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks.