Cantuccini
The characteristic cantuccini almond biscuits are also known as cantucci or Biscotti di Prato as a tribute to their place of origin. But the recipe exists in innumerable variations all over Italy.
Classic cantuccini contain no fat and no yeast or baking powder. It’s a simple mixture of sugar, eggs, flour and almonds baked twice in order to obtain the characteristic dry hardness, that will make them virtually nonperishable. In the old days, this quality was highly cherished and biscuits and other kinds of hardtack were used to feed travelers, sailors and soldiers in times of war. To soften the biscuits and make them more elegant, cantuccini were normally served with a glass of vin santo, but I prefer to dunk them in a huge cup of cappuccino in the morning.
The classic cantuccini alle mandorle are produced in the area around Prato, Florence, Siena and Pistoia, where they have received I.G.P. status, but in other parts of Italy similar biscuits are sold under different names. In Lazio and Umbria, for instance, the hard, twice cooked biscuits are known as tozzetti and they can be made with hazelnuts, pine nuts, chocolate or pistachios. So there are lots of interesting deviations to try.
Ingredients
250 g sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
100 g almonds
500 g flour
Preparation
Mix sugar, vanilla sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add grated zest of one lemon and gradually fill the batter with flour and almonds.
Continue adding flour and kneading until you have a not too sticky dough.
Shape the cantuccini dough in two long rolls and bake them in the oven at 175 C / 350 F for 20 minutes.
Take one roll cantuccini out of the oven at a time and cut it in regular slices.
Place the slices on a wire rack topped with a piece of non-stick paper.
Return the sliced cantuccini to the oven, and bake them for another 10 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.
Leave the cantuccini on a wire rack to cool and store them in an airtight container.
Cantuccini will keep fresh for weeks.
There’s nothing better than cantuccini with a nice cup of cappuccino for breakfast.
Hi Mette! That’s wonderful that you are still blogging! And I see they are still delicious as ever. I enjoyed the history here and it looks sooooo delicious. I hope this finds you well! :)
Hi Mike, Great to hear from you again, and yes, I’m still trudging along with my recipe collection and stories from Italy. Hope you would take up your tales from Reno again at some point;)
No butter??
Nope, no butter.