If you are looking for the best Gingerbread Biscotti recipes, this post may help. A few years ago I baked up a few different recipes and added notes on each. Read on fo some recipe comparisons.
Allrecipes.com Gingerbread Biscotti
Recipe #1. was from allrecipes. It didn’t have any add-ins and the texture (thanks to some vegetable oil) wasn’t tooth-breakingly hard, but crisp and tight crumbed. It was almost like eating a very thick, ginger flavored melba toast. I liked it quite a bit but missed the nuts.
Fine Cooking Magazine Recipe
Recipe #2 was Gingerbread Biscotti from Fine Cooking Magazine and it did have nuts – pecans to be exact. It also had dried apricot, which was an interesting addition and went quite well with the robust flavors of molasses and spice. This biscotti didn’t have any added oil to buffer all the spices, so it was strong and in my opinion, the most flavorful. During the 3 weeks in my cookie tin, it grew very hard and dunking was almost required. I liked it that way.
Recipe #3 and the most recent (I made it two days ago) was from Susan at Cookie Scoop. Susan’s recipe includes butter. Of the three recipe comparisons, this one was the least hard. In fact, after a couple of days in my biscotti tin it got a little softer. It still tasted very good and because of its texture, it’s a no-dunking required biscotti.
What I've learned from the Gingerbread Biscotti recipe comparisons is oil or no fat at all is the way to go when it comes to keeping things fresh. And as far as flavor goes, it's a toss up. Biscotti die-hards will like Fine Cooking's biscotti, but the Allrecipes.com is better for people who don't always plan on dunking. The butter based biscotti would be good for just about anybody, but doesn't stay fresh as long.
For convenience, I’ve built you one of my handy at a glance ingredients charts so you can get an idea of the proportions of each recipe. I converted most of the spices that were in tablespoons to teaspoons so the measurements look slightly different than the original.
Gingerbread Biscotti Recipes Compared
| Allrecipes (oil) | Fine Cooking (no fat) | Cookie Scoop (butter) |
| 2 ¼ cups flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 3 tsp. powder 3 tsp. ginger 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 ½ tsp. cloves ¼ tsp. nutmeg ⅓ cup oil 1 cup sugar 3 eggs ¼ cup molasses | 2 ¼ cups flour 1-¼ dark brown sugar 1-¼ tsp. b. powder 2 tsp. ginger 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. nutmeg ¼ tsp. soda 4 oz. pecans 4 oz. dried apricots ¼ cup molasses 2 large eggs 2 tsp. orange zest | 3 cups flour 1 ½ tsp b. powder 3 tsp. ginger 3 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg ½ tsp. cloves ½ tsp. allspice ¼ tsp cayenne ½ c. butter ¾ cup sugar 4 oz butter ½ cup molasses 3 eggs 1 cup almonds |
Here's the full recipe for the third one. Thanks, Susan! I still have a couple more to try.
Gingerbread Biscotti from The Cookie Scoop
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
¾ cup granulated sugar
4 oz butter, room temperature (salted or unsalted?)
½ cup molasses
3 eggs
3 cups AP flour
½ tbsp. baking powder
3 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. allspice
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (my addition)
Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roughly chop the toasted almonds and set aside.
Beat sugar, butter and molasses until smooth, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clovers, allspice and cayenne together in a bowl. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the molasses mixture, followed by the almonds. Mix until it all comes together.
Turn dough from bowl and shape into two logs about 2 ½ inches across.
Place the logs on a cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes at 350. Let cool until cool enough to handle, then transfer logs to a cutting board and slice about ½ inch thick on the diagonal.
Lay the biscotti on the cookie sheets and bake for another 15-18 minutes at 350 F.
Allow biscotti to cool and crisp on a cooling rack.
Anna says
Thanks for the tip!
MRS Peterson says
TRADER JOE'S HAS THE GINGERBREAD MACADAMIA BISCOTTI BACK IN STORES FOR 2017 HOLIDAYS. REFER TO THEIR WEBSITE FOR A PHOTO.
Anna says
Glad you found it, Jennifer. I need to start making more gingerbread biscotti now that the holidays are upon us.
Jennifer says
Ahhh! I just saw your comparison......Thanks!
Shan says
Huge biscotti fan, but when I'm looking at recipes...pretty much, if it has added fat, I just won't try it. I like them crunchy and hard. And I LOVE gingerbread. I'm thinking I might try adding some of these flavorings to the basic Italian biscotti recipe in the King Arthur Flour Cookie recipe and see how it comes out.
Ashley says
Ooo yum! I love biscotti and love gingerbread so this post is fantastic. I think I'll try out the allrecipes version!
snooky doodle says
i love spices . Have to try these gingerbread biscotti. must be so good 🙂
Susan says
Anna, Thanks for featuring my biscotti recipe! I'm honored..and a huge fan of your blog! Susan
Lisa says
Love these types of comparisons! And your conclusion re: fat and hardness jives with what I've experienced. Thanks Anna!
janet says
That is super helpful of you to do the comparison chart! I happen to like my biscotti softer and will try the butter one you recommend...also love ginger type cookies, etc. Many thanks!
Sam Kathryn says
My mom is a huge fan of biscotti! This recipes seems perfect for the holidays. Especially with a cup of winter themed Starbucks coffee 🙂
Sue says
Interesting comparisons. I like the looks of the cookie from Food and Wine. I'll have to give that one a try because the combo of apricot and ginger sounds interesting and unique to me.
joan says
Trader Joe's used to carry a fabulous ginger biscotti. They had macadamia nuts in them, and I think they were frosted with white chocolate. They were Wonderful (capital "W" intended). But alas, like so many other things @ Trader Joe's, they stopped making them (I am still mourning the loss of the peanut butter malted milk balls). Seduced and abandoned! I once bought a whole cookbook, one of Nick Malgieri's, I think, just because it had a recipe that sounded similar, but it didn't quite fill the bill. Good luck, Anna. When you finish this project, I'll give the "best in show" recipe a try, and maybe add a macadamia or two...
Louise says
I love ginger cookies and like the looks of #2, but it's unlikely I will make any of them as biscotti doesn't appeal to me. I think it's an aversion to having anything possibly pollute my coffee with the dunking. 🙂
Katrina says
I love it when you do these comparisons. And I love biscotti, but have only loved one kind I've made (Dorie's Lenox Almond Biscotti). I've only tried a few others, but so far like that one best. Gingerbread sounds yummy.