Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti with Orange Zest (Whole Wheat, Sliced or Drop Cookie)
Originally posted December 2016. Updated August 2026.
Okay, I’m sure you know by now that I’m a foodie. I’ll plan an entire holiday around a food festival. So if you’re on my friends list, you can usually expect homemade food gift kits (or platters of homemade cookies). And one of the recipes included in those food kits quite often is Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti.
Yep, these bad boys are YUMMY. And hard to mess up. A totally sophisticated cookie that isn’t fussy or fragile. And they are dark chocolate with sweet dried cranberries, orange zest, with just a touch of cinnamon. These biscotti are a modern take on the traditional flavors you’ll get in Italy. Still twice baked with the classic dunkable crunch. Or if you’re running short on time, scoop them straight onto a cookie sheet as a drop cookie. Both are tasty.
A fun, versatile recipe where you can switch things up to work for you in the time you have. Or you can add nuts, or even fresh cranberries. If you’re going to use fresh cranberries they don’t save for the same amount of time as if you’re using dried ones. And I do recommend dried ones for the gift kits since you don’t have to keep them in the fridge. Btw, if you happen not to like or have cranberries, use dried cherries, raisins, or your favorite dried fruit. Or change them up entirely and try the traditional Almond Biscotti.
Full Whole Wheat, a Mix, or Gluten-Free Option
I created this recipe with part whole wheat flour and part all-purpose. Mainly because I found use entirely whole wheat made the cookie extremely dense and heavy. Not the way I enjoy a biscotti. Even if we’re dunking them.
If dense doesn’t bother you, then go all in. It’s the same ratios of flour. For the lighter version, keep the recipe as written. Or swap your favorite gluten-free mix for a gluten-free biscotti. Just watch the timing on the gluten-free one since it changes the timing compared to this one with the whole wheat.
Twice Baked Sliced or Drop Cookie?
So this recipe is way more flexible than most biscotti recipes. You can switch it to a drop cookie instead of cooking as a loaf and slicing it into cookies for a second bake.
Form the dough into a log, bake once, cool it… then slice and bake the slices again. And you’ve got a proper crunchy biscotti for dunking. Then you can give as either a food kit gift jar or as a finished cookie.
Or skip all of it. Drop the same dough by the spoonful onto a parchment-lined sheet like a regular oatmeal cookie and bake once. You’ll get a soft, tender cookie instead of a crunchy one. Same flavor, completely different texture and shape. This one works perfectly if you’re running short on time. Just make sure you watch the timing cause it definitely changes.
(If you’re curious why biscotti gets baked twice at all, and where the technique comes from, my Italian Almond Biscotti post goes into the history. Prato, the Latin word for ‘twice cooked’.)
Building These Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti as Gifts
Turning this mix into a food gift kit is so easy.
Layer the dry ingredients into a mason jar – flour mix, sugar, the chocolate and cranberries on top of the rest. Then tuck in a small bottle of vanilla extract (the real stuff), and a printed instruction card. Or bake the full batch, then stack the finished biscotti in a cellophane bag with a ribbon or a cookie tin.
They’re sturdy enough to mail, and they don’t need refrigeration. And because the base dough is simple, doubling or tripling the recipe for a big batch of gifts doesn’t take much longer than making one batch.
These keep for weeks in an airtight container at room temp as a crunchy biscotti. Not as long in the drop cookie version since it still has moisture left in it.
Also if you want to make ahead, do the first bake in log form unsliced and freeze. Then thaw, slice, and do the second back as normal.
These Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti with the Orange Zest is one the hubby’s and my favorite biscotti. So which one do you plan to be – drop cookie or traditional biscotti? Let me know in the comments and leave any questions you have there.
Btw, looking for another Italian cookie for dunking, try Italian Wine Cookies (Ciambelline al Vino). These ones taste like lemon when dipping them into wine.
Recommended Ingredients & Tools for Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti
Ingredients
- Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour — Yep, I admit I’m a Bob’s Red Mill fan. Their flours just work well in my food and the whole wheat flour is slightly nutty in these biscotti.
- Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Dark Chocolate Chips — Good, dark chocolate matters most in any recipe, especially when you’re making a simple dough like this one where it’s got to stand with the cranberries. I prefer dark, but semisweet works as well. Avoid the milk chocolate. Too sweet.
- Dried Cranberries — I highly recommend using unsweetened cranberries. Not sweetened ones. You don’t need the extra sugar. They just cover up the tangy yumminess of the natural cranberry.
Tools
- Microplane Zester — Everyone needs a good microplaner for zesting citrus, including the orange zest in this recipe. The trick is not going too dip in the white pith underneath which makes it bitter.
- Serrated Bread Knife — Don’t try using a straight blade when cutting your biscotti log. It’ll crush it. Instead use a good serrated knife and sawing motion.
- Pre-Cut Parchment Sheets — Parchment sheets keep your biscotti from sticking and make clean up easy. Don’t skip these.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti
- Can I make these as drop cookies instead of slicing them? Yep! Skip the forming as a log step, and drop the dough by the spoonful onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for about 12 to 14 minutes, checking for doneness.
- Can I add nuts? Absolutely. Chopped pecans, walnuts, pistachios, or almonds all work nicely with the chocolate and orange. Fold them in with the dried cranberries and chocolate chips.
- Do I need a fresh piece of parchment paper for the second bake? Nope. You can reuse the same sheet from the first bake if you’d like.
Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti with Orange Zest
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. orange zest
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 3 to 4 Tbsp. water
- ½ cup dried unsweetened cranberries
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix well. Stir in the orange zest, chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Using a mixer or food processor, combine the eggs, vanilla, and water until mixed well. Slowly add the flour mix into the wet ingredients, until it forms a ball.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface.. Gently pat the dough into a 6″ x 2″ log and place on the baking sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently touched. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not throw away the parchment paper.
- If you turned off the oven, preheat back to 350° F. Place the cooled log on a cutting board and using a serrated knife, such as a bread knife, cut the log into 3/4″ slices.
- Place the slices, cut side down, back on the parchment lined baking sheet (it’s okay to reuse the parchment paper from the first baking instead of getting new).
- Bake the biscotti slices for 10 to 20 minutes, flipping over the pieces at the halfway mark (baking time depends on how dry you like the biscotti. The longer the time, the dryer! I did mine for 12 minutes and it was perfect).
- Remove biscotti from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving..