Italian Pistachio Biscotti
Pistachio biscotti are crunchy, nutty cookies perfect for dunking in coffee or tea. This recipe is made the Italian way – simple and delicious. Make them for you or to share with family and friends. They keep well at room temperature and are great for gifts.
Biscotti is a general Italian word for cookies, but for many people around the world, it means oblong, crunchy cookies that are twice-baked. Every region of Italy has its own special biscotti and there are countless ways to make it.
This pistachio biscotti recipe is one of my personal favorites. They’re nutty and not too sweet. The perfect cookie.
This is an easy recipe. You only need one bowl and some basic baking ingredients. The dough is easy to mix and then you shape it into a log. You will bake it twice – the first bake cooks the dough so you can slice it.
Then you bake the slices again so they dry out and turn crunchy. The texture makes them great for gifting because they keep for several weeks at room temperature.
And, if you can believe it, they’re not just for dipping into your hot coffee. Many Italians enjoy their biscotti with wine, so feel free to enjoy these cookies morning, noon, and night.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Large egg
- Vanilla
- Granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Softened salted butter
- Baking powder
- Chopped pistachios – raw unsalted pistachios
Other Mix-Ins
Sometimes I add orange zest to this recipe for a different flavor.
You can also reduce the nuts by half and substitute white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, or chopped dried cherries for the other half.
The amounts for these ingredients are in the recipe card in case you want to try these variations.
Instructions
Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and place the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla in it.
Use an electric mixer to stir the ingredients just until the mixture is combined. You can use a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix in the chopped pistachios.
If your dough is dry, add up to two tablespoons of milk one at a time.
Place the dough on a large cutting board and shape it into a log approximately 2 1/2″ (6 cm) wide. Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake it in a 350°F (180°) oven for about 20 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven and cool the log for two minutes. Slice it into thin slices no wider than 1/4″ thick. A serrated knife makes this easy to do.
Place slices back onto the prepared baking sheet with the cut sides up and bake them for 15 minutes. Cool them on the pan for 10 minutes before placing them on wire racks to cool completely.
How to Store Homemade Biscotti
Once the pistachio biscotti are completely cooled, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep well for up to two weeks at room temperature.
Crunchy, lightly sweet, and nutty with the flavor of pistachios – these biscotti are an easy treat to make and share. I hope you give them a try soon – enjoy!
More Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Biscotti with Almonds
- Almond Biscotti with Cranberries
- Amaretti Cookies
- Simple Shortbread Cookies
Italian Pistachio Biscotti
Ingredients
- 1½ cups + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (210 grams total)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup +2 tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams total)
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons butter (soft)*
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup chopped pistachios** (raw & unsalted)
- zest ½ an orange (optional)
*If you use unsalted butter then add ¼ teaspoon of salt.
**or ¼ cup chopped pistachios and ¼ cup white chocolate chips.
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F (180C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder, make a well in the middle and add the sugar, butter, egg, zest (if using) and vanilla. Mix with the flat beaters until almost combined, then add the pistachios (or pistachio/chocolate chip mixture). If too dry than add 1-2 tablespoons of milk, a tablespoon at a time.
- Move the dough to a flat surface and form into a log, about 2 ½ inches (6 cm) wide. Place it on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for approximately 20 minutes, remove from the oven, let sit 5-10 minutes then slice into thin slices (¼ -½ inch, I did some of each)place the slices cut side up back on the cookie sheet and bake again for 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on the cookie sheet then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
I made this for Thanksgiving this year, and my son has begged me to make them five more times since then! I can almost make the recipe without looking now. Comes out perfect every time, and my boy is happy. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kara, thanks so much, so glad your son likes them. Take care and Merry Christmas!
The recipe calls for raw, unsalted pistacho, can roast un salted pistachio be substituted
Hi Thomas, yes you could use roasted pistachios. I hope you like them. Let me know. Take care!
hi! those looks so good! I’m planing to make them. I have a question- un the metric system you say 187.5 g flour and 3 tablespoons. why you separate the 3 tablespoons from the amount? I thought the 3 tablespoons are for other use but I didnt found it in the recipe. thank you!
Hi Nava, I have to separate it because that’s the way the recipe card works, the amounts including the tablespoons are in the recipe, I did add the total in grams including the tablespoons in brackets. Hope that helps. Let me know. Take care!
👋 hi, yes! thats clear for me now! thank you!
I rated this in the middle range, not because the recipe didn’t taste good, but because whomever is editing the recipes for quantities in Cups, Tbsp, Tsp, etc. OR Grams, needs to go back to the kitchen or to school or both. First ingredient says 3C Plus 3 Tbsp which is supposedly 216 grams!!! Well, 216 grams is just barely 1½ Cup!!! So one of these measurements is way OFF! So which is the correct measurement??!! First I measured out the gram amount, which was clearly no where near the listed cup amount. The measurement for chopped pistachios 1 Cup or 60 grams. Well, 60 gms is barely ½ C. AGAIN, which is the correct measurement?
So, since I was clearly on my own here, and I went with the 3C+3Tbsp flour, and used the remaining listed quantities in Cups, Tbsp & Tsp. Well, that quantity of flour meant that the two eggs + butter, tsp of Vanilla was clearly no where the appropriate amount of liquid ingredients to bind this all together. I wound up having to add ⅓-½ C milk (Tbsp full at a time) just to bind this mixture all together. While in the end the recipe tastes great, but not without a lot figuring and sermizing and hoping for the best. Additionally, the initial bake time is way off to get a slight golden tinge to the logs. (Oh yes, with the quantity, that I used, I got two logs!) Bake times needed another 10-15 min. on the initial bake for 30-35. My oven is well calibrated and still I use two oven thermometers for temp assurance!
Please, if you are going to add Cup & gram measurements, have them checked by a responsible food editor/tester, to insure accuracy and actual recipe requirement!! So, now after making these, I’m going to assume or guess that the gram measurements were the real ones to follow?? I just think these were not checked/tested properly for posting!!
Hi Corrine, if you click on metric and do 2x or 3x it does change, ignore the brackets, the brackets were added before and they are for the original recipe. I am trying to update the recipes as they come up and yes the metric as showing is correct. Thanks.
Hello, Rosemary! I LOVE your recipes! I’m 2nd generation Siciliano and these recipes are so spot on!
I’ve made the meatballs, the eggplant pie 2x’s in one weekly monthly! lemon ice cream (several times in a row…oh my!) And more…every Christmas I make several batches of our family traditional biscottis. Toasted almonds, anise seeds infused with Sambucco, and more Sambucco, butter…love them, but I want to add another flavor, so of course, I checked you site!!!
I have a hankering for crunchy biscotti with candied oranges/peels, shopped dark chocolate and im not sure if I should add toasted almonds and almond extract or pistachios and vanilla. Any thoughts?
Thank you!!!!
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen, sorry for the late reply, glad you like the recipes. Usually the longer you bake a biscotti the crunchier it will be. I like the idea of the candied fruit, dark chocolate and toasted almonds. I’m not a big lover of pistachios although my husband loves them. I do have a recipe for Pistachio biscotti with orange zest you could add some vanilla if you wanted. Let me know what you decide. Take care and Merry Christmas!
Can I use pecans instead of Pistachios? I am also wondering if I should toast them. I am going to use chocolate chips as well.
Hi Marjorie, yes you can use pecans also, you can toast them it will give a nicer richer flavour and chocolate chips sound good also. Let me know how it goes. Take care!
Great!
Delicious. I used a bit of lemon rind.
Thanks Jade glad you enjoyed them. Take care. Have a great week.
Loved the recipe – I found that cooling the log for only 2 minutes before slicing resulted in a crumbled mess; I left it to cool for 10 minutes, THEN sliced it and it was a major improvement.
I’ve also tried using lemon zest for one batch and lime zest for another batch. All delicious!
Thanks!
Hi Michael, thanks so much and thanks for letting me know. Have a great week.
These look amazing I’d love to make them but I only have salted pistachios! Can I still use them?
Hi Amanda, I actually made half my recipe with salted because I ran out of unsalted and they were ok, we liked them, the unsalted were better though. leave out the pinch of salt and maybe use unsalted butter. Let me know how it goes.
Recipe gives no guidance. Bake until brown or a knife stuck in comes out clean? If using a convection oven? First time baking biscotti. A little what to expect is always best.
Hi Lizy, there are the baking minutes how the cookies should look, I have process shots. I am sorry I am confused on what else to show or say. For a convection oven it is advised to turn the temperature down by 25 degrees.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Hi Regina, yes the recipe can be doubled. I hope you like it.
Hi – I’m about to make this pistachio biscotti recipe, however it states to slice the log in 1/4 inch cookies. Is that correct? Seems a bit thin but I’m sure still delicious. Thanks, Debbie
Hi Debbie, you could slice them thicker also, 1/2 inch might work better. Let me know how it goes.
Are the pistachios roasted or raw, salted or unsalted?
Thank you
Hi Nessa, sorry about that, raw and unsalted are the best. If you wish to roast them then you could but it really isn’t necessary. Hope you like them. Have a great week.
I haven’t made this version of biscotti yet, but, tell me why you say to cut them only 1/4” wide when they obviously look to be at least 1/2”. I would think at 1/4” they would crumble.
Hi Angela, they may look 1/2 inch but they weren’t that wide, and they should crumble when you cut them. 🙂