Happy 2025! I hope many of you enjoyed a thoroughly satisfying holiday baking season like I did. I didn’t get to bake at all in November/December 2023 because I was mired in the hellscape of packing and moving to Florence, so I was positively thrilled to break out my rolling pin and sprinkles this year! One of my favorite things every year is putting together cookie boxes, making sure to account for different colors, shapes, textures, and flavor profiles. And evvvvery year I overdo it and say that I’m gonna go easy and not make too much… but… well, you can guess how that goes. Inevitably I discover new recipes, remember old favorites, or want to try fun variations. (And then, ahem, I get backed up and don’t finish blog posts in time to post before Christmas/Chanukah.)
While I generally think of myself as an avid and open-minded cookie connoisseur, I have to say that biscotti are one type of cookie that I don’t often get excited about. Sometimes they are so hard that I’m worried about breaking a molar, other times the dry crumble in my mouth is akin to chewing sand. I know they are generally meant for dipping in coffee or tea, but it just isn’t my jam. In short, it has never been a type of cookie that I seek out or crave. (Though to be fair, I live in Tuscany now, where many different kinds are made, and I’m getting used to them.) But then this recipe came along from the Bake From Scratch 2017 Holiday Cookies issue, and the combination of vanilla, rooibos tea, and white chocolate was so intriguing that I decided to set aside my biscotti apathy and actually give them a try. It is the only biscotti recipe that I enjoy making year after year, and which comes out lovely every time. They are crisp, yet light and delicate, and will not damage any teeth or require scalding liquid for softening purposes. (Though certainly if you enjoy it, they would be lovely to dunk in the hot winter beverage of your choice.)
The combination of warm vanilla with also-warm rooibos tea is delightful, with the flavors truly enhancing each other to create a unique holiday cookie that compliments everything else in your cookie assortment. I always like to include something in the category of “warm spices”, and I find these perfect, particularly as they are dipped in white chocolate for an elegant touch and a little sweetness. I like to make them in January/February as well; they are simply a cozy cookie for wintery times. And now that the holiday sugar coma has hopefully faded for everyone, it feels like the right time to bake some more cookies, yes?
This dough comes together in a snap, and the recipe unfolds beautifully as written. A few minor notes and adjustments:
- White Chocolate: Try to use white chocolate with about 35% cocoa butter (like Valrhona Ivoire), which melts much better than the more common 32-ish%. The latter melts into more of a paste, whereas the higher cocoa butter yields a silky puddle (like dark chocolate) that works much better for dipping. I generally use the more affordable Guittard 35% Soie Blanche, which used to be a close second to Valrhona, but I noticed a couple of years ago that it’s now melting more thickly (I believe they changed the formula around then). In this case, I stir in a tiny amount of neutral vegetable oil, which helps immensely to loosen the chocolate. Then you can use a small offset spatula to smooth the chocolate after dipping if needed.
- Vanilla: You can use 1 teaspoon ground vanilla beans if you run out of whole vanilla beans, or pure vanilla bean paste.
- Baking time/temperature: The one tricky thing with this recipe is timing and temping the two baking sessions, which may simply be a bit of trial and error with your oven. In my past American ovens, the original instructions always worked perfectly (bake at 350°F for 25 minutes the first time, 15 minutes the second time at the same temperature); my current European oven bakes more slowly. Make sure to bake long enough the first time so that the loaves are sliceable. If the dough is too soft on the inside, it will squish when you cut through them. They still taste perfectly good, but are less pretty. What I do now is extend the first bake by 5 minutes, and I lower the baking temperature a smidge for the second bake to prevent over-browning.
Vanilla & Rooibos Biscotti
Yields 18-30 biscotti
Adapted from Bake From Scratch 2017 Holiday Cookies
- 2½ cups (313g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 whole vanilla bean, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons rooibos tea leaves, plus more to sprinkle for the garnish (about 6 teabags total – reserve a teaspoon or so for sprinkling)
- ⅓ cup (76g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170g) good-quality white chocolate, preferably higher than 35% cocoa solids, wafers or roughly chopped (see note above)
- A few drops neutral vegetable oil, if needed
Prepare the biscotti dough:
Preheat an oven to 350°F and set a baking rack in the center. Line a rimless cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it nearby.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.
Put the sugar, chopped vanilla bean, and 2 tablespoons rooibos tea leaves in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, then pulse until no big pieces are left. (This works most effectively in a mini-chopper because it’s not a large quantity of ingredients.)
Place the sugar-vanilla-tea mixture along with the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat them together at medium speed until combined and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes; scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix for a few seconds. Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients to the batter, beating just until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Divide the dough in half, and form each piece into a log roughly 10″ inches long x 2″ thick. Try to smooth them out as much as possible, but it’s fine if they are a bit lumpy-looking or uneven. Place the logs gently on the prepared cookie sheet, spaced several inches apart.
Bake the biscotti loaves until lightly browned, about 25-30 minutes. (See the note above about timing and temping– if you underbake at this stage, they will get smashy when you slice them, so err on the side of a few extra minutes.)
Pull the pan from the oven and let the loaves cool on a metal rack for 10 minutes. They will have puffed, settled into a flatter shape, and cracked a bit on top. Using a sharp serrated knife, gently slice the biscotti into 1″-thick pieces.
Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. (Feel free to leave the higher temp to see what works best in your oven.) Place the slices cut-side-down on the baking sheet, arranging them about 1″ apart. Place the pan back in the oven and bake until the biscotti are golden (especially on the edges), about 15 minutes more, rotating the pan 180° halfway through baking. Transfer the pan to a metal cooling rack and let them cool completely.
Garnish & decorate the biscotti:
Place the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water; do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water, and do not allow any steam to come in contact with the chocolate. Stir the chocolate pieces occasionally, until they have all melted smoothly. If the chocolate has a thicker/paste-like consistency that does not allow for dipping or spreading, add a few drops of neutral vegetable oil and stir the chocolate vigorously until the oil has fully blended. This will help loosen the white chocolate; keep adding a few drops at a time until you reach your desired consistency (do not exceed a teaspoon or so, as you do not want the chocolate to get greasy).
Dip one end of each biscotti slice into the melted white chocolate, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. If it’s still on the thicker side, use a small offset spatula to spread it across half or so of the biscotti– this need not be terribly precise. I think a nice swoosh of white chocolate looks lovely personally!
Sprinkle the reserved rooibos tea leaves over the still-wet white chocolate, and place each slice gently back on the baking pan undisturbed until the chocolate has firmed up (a couple of hours or so). To speed things up, you can place the pan in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
The biscotti can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days (they will be best for the first few days, but will still be edible for another day or two).
© Dafna Adler & Stellina Sweets, 2025.
