Cantucci with Almonds: Italian Twice-Baked Biscotti Recipe

Name: Cantucci with Almonds: Italian Twice-Baked Biscotti Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Raw unpeeled almonds 200 g; Wheat flour 2 cups; Butter 50 g; Eggs 5; Sugar 1 cup; Vanilla, lemon and orange zest, Cointreau liqueur to taste

Traditional cantucci are very dry almond cookies from Prato in Tuscany, Italy. They are easy to recognise by their elongated shape, golden surface and pieces of unpeeled almonds. They are considered a kind of biscotti and are very often called “biscotti di Prato”, and they are made with almonds only.

Biscotti (biscotto) are a very popular elongated cookie made from flour, sugar, butter and eggs, with nuts, candied fruit and so on added. The name says it all: in old Latin, biscoctus means “twice-baked”. But it so happened that Italians call almost any dry cookie that is baked twice by this name. In essence, the second baking is simply drying the sliced cookies. Cantucci, however, is the name reserved for the almond variety of biscotti.

In the East you can find small round almond cookies called shakarlama almost everywhere. They are just as dry as cantucci, but less sweet and incredibly fragrant, with plenty of cardamom, and they are baked only once. They are best eaten with tea or coffee, because without a drink they are quite hard due to their dryness. I have many times seen locals gather in the evening to smoke a hookah, chat and drink a cup of coffee with almond cookies.

The dough for cantucci is quite simple and consists of wheat flour, eggs, sugar and butter. Unpeeled chopped almonds are added to it. First a wide, flat loaf is baked, often uneven, then it is cut across into narrow strips and baked again to dry it out. After that, if you like, the cookies can be dipped in chocolate or covered with sugar icing.

Dry almond cantucci have ancient roots. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, dry bread was baked for legionaries to take on campaigns; it kept for a long time without spoiling, retaining its taste and nutritional value.

The wonderful thing about dry cookies is that you can make a lot of them in advance without fear that they will spoil or change in taste. Someone once said that such cookies stay fresh for centuries. I honestly admit I have not tested it, as the cookies get eaten surprisingly fast. Cantucci are exceptionally tasty pastry with tea or coffee, and also with sweet dessert wine, as is customary in Italy.

More with nuts

Homemade Shortbread CookiesCrumbly homemade shortbread cookies with butter and walnuts, no margarine. A simple step-by-step recipe with photos for a perfect teatime treat.

Pecan pieClassic Southern pecan pie: shortcrust pastry, a corn syrup, egg and brown sugar filling and plenty of pecans. Easy step-by-step recipe with photos.

Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins and NutsCrunchy homemade oatmeal cookies made with oat flour, butter, cinnamon, raisins and nuts. Simple step-by-step recipe with photos to serve with tea.

Baked Pumpkin with Nuts, Honey and PrunesPumpkin cubes baked with toasted walnuts, prunes, butter, vanilla and cinnamon, then finished with honey and lemon zest. A cozy autumn dessert, step by step.

Waldorf Salad with Celery StalksClassic Waldorf salad with sweet-tart apples, celery, toasted walnuts and raisins in a light yogurt dressing. Ready in 10 minutes, step-by-step photos.

Ingredients

a basket of cookies

Raw unpeeled almonds 200 g
Wheat flour 2 cups
Butter 50 g
Eggs 5
Sugar 1 cup
Vanilla, lemon and orange zest, Cointreau liqueur to taste

Step-by-step recipe

Cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

For these cookies you need “raw” almonds: plain, dried, not roasted and with the skins on. You can buy them anywhere. By the way, almonds are very good for you. Take the eggs out of the fridge in advance so that they are at room temperature by the time you make the dough. Remove the zest from the lemon and orange and grate it finely or chop it in a blender.
Dry all the almonds slightly in a frying pan or in the microwave. Divide the almonds into two parts: 50 g and 150 g. Pour boiling water over the smaller part for a few minutes, rinse with cold water and peel off the skins.
Chop all the remaining almonds: with a knife, cut each “nut” in half crosswise. This part of the almonds is used for the filling of the cookies and is not peeled.
Mix the sugar with vanilla to taste. Stir the mixture thoroughly so that all the components are evenly distributed. Carefully break 2 eggs into a bowl or cup, add three more yolks, separating the whites from the yolks. Melt the butter in a cup so that it stays slightly warm but not hot. Add the eggs to the bowl with the sugar.
It is convenient to mix the cantucci dough with an ordinary household mixer. Beat the eggs with the sugar thoroughly and at low speed until smooth. While beating, the sugar should dissolve. Add the butter and the prepared lemon and orange zest, as well as 1-2 tbsp of Cointreau orange liqueur. Mix the mixture well once more.
Sift the wheat flour through a sieve. Grind the peeled almonds in a blender or coffee grinder and add them to the flour. Mix the mixture thoroughly.
Add the whole mixture of flour and almonds to the mixer bowl with the egg mixture. Keep mixing with the mixer until you get a thick, slightly runny dough, a little thicker than the one used for baking cherry and orange zest muffins.
You will not need the mixer any more, but you can finish the dough in the mixer bowl.
Add the unpeeled almond halves to the dough. Keep mixing the dough with a silicone or wooden spatula. All the almond halves need to be coated with dough and evenly distributed. The final consistency of the dough is only very slightly runny, and you need to help with the spatula to spread the dough onto the baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 210-220 °C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper; there is no need to grease it, as cantucci come off easily after baking and do not stick. With a spatula, spread all the dough onto the paper, forming two long, wide “loaves”. The dough spreads out, and the layer will be no more than 4 cm high. Sprinkle the dough with flour and use your hands to shape “islands” of dough about 10 cm wide, with even edges if possible.
Put the baking sheet with the cookies in the oven and bake for 20-25 mins. The dough will definitely bake through, so go by the surface, which should start to turn golden. Remove any leftover flour from the surface by blowing it off or using a brush.
Put the baked loaf on a board and, with a very sharp knife, cut the cookies into strips about 2-2.5 cm wide across, so that “corners” remain at the edges. You can cut at a right angle or diagonally, as you prefer.
Now the second stage of baking begins. Arrange the cantucci pieces in rows on an oven rack, so that they do not touch each other. Put the rack with the cookies back in the oven. After 6-10 mins turn all the cookies over and bake for another 6-10 mins.
During the second baking the cookies will dry out considerably and brown slightly where they were cut. During the second baking watch closely that the cookies do not start to burn, which is quite likely. So the baking time is only approximate. Note that this is an important point!
The finished almond cantucci must cool completely. You do not need to cover the cookies with a napkin, as they should be dry. If you made more almond cookies than the recipe says, you can put them in a basket and cover with a cloth or paper napkin.
Serve the almond cookies with milk, sweet tea or coffee. They are very good with sweet wine. And just on their own, with nothing else, they are practically a treat. But for me, the tastiest pairing is fragrant tea with ginger, honey and lemon.