Would You Take a Cookie from a Stranger on a Train?: Apricot-Pistachio Biscotti

I recently had a lovely dinner with Sheri of Pork Cracklins when she was in D.C. For the past few years she's been running our Baked Sunday Mornings group and she also organized our recipe testing efforts for Baked Occasions (you can read more about that here). Sheri lives in the Bay Area and this is only the second time I've seen her in person; the first time we met was in New York City back in October 2014, at the launch party for Baked Occasions. But we've been baking together online since day one of the Baked Sunday Mornings group in 2010, so I know her baking well and have a ton of respect for her skills. Which is why I bought copies of The Weekend Baker and The Everyday Baker by Abigail Dodge after Sheri strongly recommended them during a discussion of our favorite cookbooks and authors.

I happened to get the books right before my mother came to D.C. for a visit, and since my mother loves biscotti, I thought she would enjoy the "Apricot-Pistachio Biscotti" from The Weekend Baker. It only takes a couple of minutes to make the dough in a stand mixer. You combine flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder and salt; add pistachios and chopped dried apricots; pour in the liquid ingredients (eggs, an egg yolk, lemon juice, and vanilla); and mix until the dough forms moist clumps. You shape the dough into two logs, bake, slice the logs, and bake the cookies again to dry them out.

I loved these biscotti. They had beautiful color from the apricots and pistachios and they were delightfully crunchy. My mother loved them too, and while she was visiting we baked a second batch together using almonds instead of pistachios and adding a dash of almond extract. They were also terrific; I think a little almond extract would also enhance the flavor of the original pistachio version.

My husband Tom took a few of the pistachio biscotti with him on a business trip to New York City and he happened to end up in the same Amtrak car with sports writer and radio host Tony Kornheiser. They struck up a conversation and since Kornheiser was snacking on a bag of pistachios, Tom offered him one of my biscotti. Kornheiser complimented the cookie and even mentioned the incident on the March 27 episode of his podcast ("Life in the Big Apple"; the story starts around minute 46).

A big thanks to Sheri for the cookbook recommendations!

Recipe: "Apricot-Pistachio Biscotti" from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Dodge.

Previous Posts:

• "You Say Butter, I say BOO-tter: Butter Pecan Biscotti," November 22, 2016.
• "Nutty Crunchy Lovely Yummy: Hazelnut Biscotti," June 14, 2016.
• "The Softer Side of Biscotti: Banana Bread Biscotti," June 11, 2015. 
• "Ginger Five Ways in Two Cookies: Triple-Ginger Pecan Biscotti and Ginger Bites," December 20, 2014.
• "Aloha, Delicious!: Gingery Macadamia Biscotti," January 7, 2014.
• "Biscotti Revisited: Hazelnut Cinnamon Chip Biscotti," June 2, 2011.
• "Time to Raid the Pistachio Stash: Pistachio Cherry Biscotti," June 1, 2011.
• "The Problem with the Girl Scouts [Chocolate Chip Biscotti]," March 2, 2009.