A sweet, crunchy biscotti that will rival anything you can get at the bakery! We love the golden color of these yummy cookies and the crunch of sliced almonds and the fact that this recipe is dead easy.
Don’t like cranberries? Then switch it up and add chocolate chips! Or coconut, or pecans…..
Just about anything you could put into a cookie, you can add to this basic biscotti recipe. And they make a wonderful homemade food gift!
Let me show how!
The easy part? The base for this recipe is a cake mix! That’s right! So you can pick up the ingredients on your way home today, and whip up some delicious biscotti for a weekend treat.
They are perfect with a big mug of hot chocolate or your favourite coffee. Need some homemade food gift ideas? Everyone loves Biscotti!
Recently I’ve switched to use a white (or vanilla) cake mix and include cranberries and sliced almonds. All the steps in the recipe are still the same, but I love the crunchy sweetness of this combination!
This post was originally published on August 28, 2017 and updated on December 17, 2020.
You will need: sliced natural almonds, 1 pkg yellow or white cake mix, eggs, flour, unsalted butter and vanilla extract, cranberries & sliced or whole almonds.
We have lots of easy cake mix recipes! Be sure to try our lemon loaf cake, fudgy brownies, pineapple upside down cake and lemon poppyseed muffins!
Cake Mix Biscotti!
CAKE MIX BISCOTTI BACKSTORY
Mark and I just returned from a glorious 14 day vacation to Italy. It truly was the trip of a lifetime.
Florence, Rome, Tuscany with so many wonderful places in between! One of the highlights of the trip?
An outdoor concert featuring Andrea Bocelli in his home town of Lajotica. The concert was really outdoors in a huge field, but the sound, underneath the stars, in Italy? Well I’m sure you get the idea.
After several wonderful days in Florence, we took a high speed train to Rome, where we soaked up the amazing culture and enjoyed a Gelato or two – like we did here at the Piazza Navona.
Another highlight of our trip was Cantucci Toscani – Italian Almond Biscotti! We developed a real passion for these delicious little Italian cookies. Ok, it was close to obsession.
By the time we were ready to leave our last location, the beautiful Castello del Nero in Tavernelle val di Pesa – we were hooked! They were bringing us two bowls at a time. 🙂
I was determined I would have to learn to make biscotti when we returned home. By the way, if you ever want to visit the most romantic and luxurious hotel spa in Tuscany, the Castello del Nero is it!
We would go back in a heartbeat! An amazing facility, excellent staff and customer service and well the food makes you think you are in Heaven. Yes, it’s that good.
This resort is a Michelin One Star, and the Chef even gave me his recipe for these amazing biscotti!
So what is Biscotti Cake?
Now before we get to the fun stuff – making your very own biscotti from a cake mix – just like Betty Crocker! (Ha! Ha!) I wanted to share some very cool information.
A long ago practice was to use leftover cake (who has leftover cake?) and make biscotti. Biscotti cookies are twice baked, so cooks would like their leftover cakes (think stale) into small strips and bake them twice to get a hard crunchy biscotti.
These leftover biscotti cakes weren’t layer cakes, but usually a denser pound cake or loaf style of cake.
TIPS FOR MAKING PERFECT CAKE MIX BISCOTTI
- Blend the ingredients well, including the almonds.
- Follow the recipe instructions exactly.
- Mixing up the ingredients, I found the dough to be a bit sticky. I made sure my board and hands were well floured!
- Roll the dough so that you will get a biscotti ‘shape’ when they are sliced – once baked they will look like a biscotti cake.
- Make sure the biscotti dough slices are thin enough so that you will get a lovely crunch on the second bake.
YOU MAY NEED…
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Want more Italian cookie recipes? They are so many different varieties, like these the Baci di Dama from Natasha’s Kitchen!
Biscotti make excellent homemade food gifts too! Our other easy cake mix recipe is the classic Pineapple Upside Down Cake, everyone loves it!
How Do You Make Biscotti From Cake Mix?
A yellow cake mix, plus delicious raw unsalted almonds, butter and vanilla. Save a little time, enjoy the convenience of a cake mix and still have that exquisite crunchy vanilla flavour. And voila! Cake Mix Biscotti was born. Delizioso! I’ve set out the steps here for you. 🙂
CAKE MIX BISCOTTI ~ CANTUCCI TOSCANI
These amazing Cake Mix Biscotti baked up like a dream, and my family raved about them at a recent Brunch we had together.
And they all went home with little bags of biscotti! Of course I kept a few back for us! You can be creative here too, maybe add some dried fruit like cranberries, or some mini chocolate chips?
The possibilities for you to make exquisite biscotti too are endless. So here is my Cake Mix Biscotti recipe just for you. And if you don’t have time to print out the recipe right now, why not Pin It for later?
If you like the recipe, please give it a 5 star rating.
xo Judy
Quick Cake Mix Biscotti
You won't believe this amazing Cake Mix Biscotti recipe is just like Italian Almond Biscotti you get in Tuscany! An easy dessert recipe, and oh those rave reviews!
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow Cake Mix, 15.25 oz/432g
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup almonds, sliced or whole, raw
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries (or chocolate chips)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Pour the cake mix into a mixing bowl. Stir in sifted all purpose flour.
- Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, margarine and vanilla extract. Stir in the almonds.
- With an electric beater mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough does not stick to the sides of the mixing bowl. It will look and feel like play dough!
- On a lightly floured board, divide dough into two halves.
- Roll each half into a log about 1" in diameter.
- Roll each log gently to the edge of the board and then continue rolling it onto a lightly sprayed 11” x 15” baking sheet.
- Flatten the top of each cookie log until it is about 3" wide.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove baking sheet from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325 and do not turn off.
- Gently slide one cookie log onto the board that you rolled out the dough on.
- Using a serrated knife or better still an electric carving knife, slice each log across the width into 3/4" slices.
- Place cookies cut side down back onto the baking sheet and return them to the oven for another 10 minutes.
- Remove cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Notes
The crispy and hard crunch of a biscotti comes from double baking. In this recipe 20 minutes, slice and then bake another 10 minutes. These are so easy to make!
Did you make this recipe?
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 36 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 115Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 115mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g
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Judy Kahansky
Judy Kahansky is an experienced baker and writer. She loves to take classic and vintage recipes and update them to fit the busy lives of her readers. When not baking, Judy and her husband Mark are passionate golfers, travelers and dog lovers, spending as much time as they can with their sweet pup Millie.
Michelle
Wednesday 1st of February 2023
Not sure what happened, as I followed the recipe, but never got the dough like consistency. In fact I added another cup of flour and extra mixing time. It seems 4 eggs might be too many?
Judy Kahansky
Monday 6th of February 2023
Hi Michelle, I'm sorry to hear that? I've made this recipe dozens of times without fail. I'm wondering if the cake mix was fresh or had expired? Just a thought. I hope you try it again.
Carol
Tuesday 15th of November 2022
I made these with a funfetti cake mix! Made a few variations with juice of small orange and zest. Otherwise followed as directed. Next time will add more cranberry and almonds. Delicious and so easy
Judy Kahansky
Monday 12th of December 2022
What a great idea! That's the beauty of this recipe. xo
JoGee
Tuesday 14th of June 2022
The biscotti, made exactly as the recipe states, are in the oven for the final bake (with slightly fewer than what came out of the oven at the end of the first bake). They smelled and looked so delicious we had to try a slice or two and they were as expected - yummy. Thank you for this recipe, we will be using it regularly as is and with any number of variations we can concoct.
Judy Kahansky
Monday 26th of September 2022
So glad you loved it! This biscotti recipe makes wonderful food gifts too!
Usha
Thursday 2nd of June 2022
Can I use salted butter since I have only this?
Judy Kahansky
Saturday 4th of June 2022
Sure you can! Just don't add any additional salt to the recipe. Hope that helps!
Jan
Friday 25th of February 2022
I was wondering can I leave out the nuts and cranberries and just make a vanilla biscott?
Judy Kahansky
Friday 25th of February 2022
Hi Jan That's the beauty of this recipe you can change it up the way you want. However, the biscotti will have a different texture without the nuts. A true Italian biscotti usually has sliced almonds in it, but you can make it your way. The baking times shouldn't change too much, try reducing the bake time by 5 minutes or so.