Get ready folks, I’m about to all Martha Stewart on you.

I’m a huge fan of giving gifts. I’ve always been the type who gets so excited about the presents I’ve picked out, I sometimes forget about the receiving part. And although this year I’m still the same, it’s slightly different. Like a broken record of everyone else I know, money is crazy tight this year and my ability to buy presents has been, well, somewhat hindered. But that doesn’t stop me, oh no.

Baking cookies and goods for people and packaging them yourself is one of the cheapest, easiest, and still thoughtful things to do around the holidays, especially if you have a rather large list of people you’d like to treat. It takes time, effort, and thought – 3 things that can be more meaningful than the ability to swipe your credit card. And come on, who doesn’t love to get a bag of homemade goodies? Especially when they’re cranberry-pistachio biscotti.

I chose these cookies not only for their festive colors and flavors (red cranberries, green pistachios), but also because biscotti are one of the best things to package and hold up for a very long time, which makes them the ideal thing to mail. Plus they’re the perfect thing to accompany coffee or tea, which almost everyone I know enjoys.

So happy (economical) holidays and I hope you all enjoy!

One of my least favorite ingredients in the world, but a necessity for biscotti.

Zest + microplane (one of my all-time favorite tools).

Mmmm, dried cranberries.

Very sticky batter.

Loaves.

Sliced and baked again.

Chips.

Dipped.

Semi-sweet.

Semi-sweet and white.

Pretty presents all lined up.

—

Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

Makes about 6 dozen (recipe is easily halved but I gave these to a ton of folk).

Ingredients

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 1 TBL + 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp pure almond extract
• 4 eggs
• 3½  cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3 cups shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts
• the zest from 2 oranges
• Semi-sweet or white chocolate morsels

Directions

1.) Preheat the oven to 325° F with rack in lower third of oven. Line up to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the oil and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the eggs one at a time, letting them completely blend before adding the next. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. With the mixer running on low, add to the egg mixture in three parts. Turn the mixer to low and toss in the cranberries and pistachios, mixing until incorporated (you may have to hold your mixer down a bit here, it’s a bit tough to work through the dough).

3.) Divide dough into four sections. Form four logs (12″ long x 4″ wide x 1″ thick) on cookie sheets. If the dough is very sticky, wet your hands with cold water to make it easier to handle.

4.) Pop in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until logs are light brown on the edges. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Put the other 2 logs into the oven while the first two cool and bake.

5.) Reduce oven heat to 275° F. Using a serrated knife, cut logs into 3/4 inch thick slices, getting 16-18 slices out of each log. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until crisp and dry, then cool completely on wire racks.

Optional: Melt chocolate and dip half of each biscotti into chocolate, then let dry and cool on wire racks, refrigerating to completely set chocolate.