Cantucci recipe

Cantucci are the typical biscuits whose origin is claimed by many important Tuscan cities from Prato to Siena to indicate the best known and date back to around the 16th century. For some, the name derives from “cantellus”, which in Latin means “piece or slice of bread”, or a salty biscuit used by Roman soldiers. For others, the term Cantuccio derives from “canto”, an angle, a small part that refers to the cutting format. We find these delicious biscuits at the Medici court since the second half of the 1500s, still in the version without almonds.

About a century later, the “Accademia della Crusca” elaborated the first definition of “Cantuccio”, indicated as “sliced biscuit, fine flour, with sugar and egg white”. However, only at the end of the XXIX century, in the version now more widespread with almonds, the cantucci began to be produced in the whole region, which in 2016 obtained the recognition of Protected Geographical Indication (IGP), referring to the entire administrative territory.

One of our classic and well-known pairings is Cantucci and Vinsanto, a Tuscan sweet wine. Please do not soak the cantucci in a fine Vinsanto or, even worse, in an “Occhio di Pernice”, a very precious sweet wine: instead, accompany them. In this case, more than in the others, even choose high-quality artisanal Cantucci.

There are different interpretations of the Cantuccio: with pistachios, dried figs, cocoa in the mixture, and hazelnut, with chocolate drops or honey. The base of the dough is the same. In the case of cocoa powder, we usually add 50 grams of bitter cocoa. You can also create your own completely customized version. Why not?

CANTUCCI RECIPE

Preparation time: 1 hour. Difficulty level: medium

Ingredients:

400 gr of flour

100 grams of sugar

150 gr of almonds

3 eggs

1 orange

1/2 sachet of baking powder

Preparation:

Blanch the almonds in boiling water, peel and toast in the oven. Then finely chop until you get a grain. Grate the zest of half a lemon after washing it well.

Pour some flour on a work surface. Put the whole eggs, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and sugar in the centre. Mix everything with your hands until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. If necessary, add a drop of milk/flour, depending on whether it is too thick or liquid.

As soon as they are ready, pour almonds with orange zest into the dough and mix them in homogeneous quantities. Finally, form a long and narrow loaf with a height of about three centimetres that has a shape typical of the Tuscan Cantuccio.

Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and after letting it cool for a couple of minutes, cut them diagonally, creating about 1.2 cm wide nooks. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Once golden, remove from the oven and cool.

Store in a tin can or an airtight container.

Take a look at other Italian traditional desserts