Fig and Pistachio Biscotti

It's that time of year again, are you ready to bake some biscotti? With just one basic recipe you can make so many variations? Spend a marathon day of baking and you can acquire hundreds! Give them out as gifts to your friends, family and co-workers and they will love you for it!

This is my new favorite combination, fig and pistachio with a hint of orange and anise. I already made a huge batch, quadrupled the recipe and gave some out to friends and some of my fig loving family members. I'm ready to make more and so will you once you try these!

You'll love the way your kitchen smells when these are baking. The aroma lingered for days!

Of course you'll have to taste test them to make sure they came out alright, so put on a pot of espresso after the first batch cools off!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 t. of anise seeds

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

1 t. of anise extract

1 t. grated orange zest

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

4 oz. dried figs, cut into 1/4 inch dice with stems removed. Note* It's alot easier to pulse your figs in a food processor, just make sure to leave them chunky like the size of a pea, and make sure you snip off the tips of your figs first, they tend to be really hard and inedible

**Heat oven to 350 degrees.

**With your mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until smooth, about 2 minutes.

**Add eggs, extracts, and zest, and beat until creamy and light.

**Combine dry ingredients together, then add to the butter mixture, add the figs and the nuts last.

**Mix everything on low speed until incorporated then remove dough and divide in half.

**Form two 9×2 inch logs, place on parchment lined baking sheet apart from each other, and bake until lightly browned (25 to 30 minutes).

**Remove from oven, and let them cool down, you can't cut them when they're hot they'll crumble. Using a serrated knife, take your time and slowly cut logs into 1/2″ thick slices.

**Arrange biscotti on their sides on the baking sheet. Return to oven, and bake until golden, about 10-15 minutes. Turn biscotti over on the other side and bake for another 10-15 minutes more, or until desired crispiness. Cool on racks.

Makes around 40

ENJOY!