Cantucci are delicious almond biscuits, perhaps the most famous of the Tuscan tradition, which are often served with vin santo, a sweet dessert wine. Cantucci or cantuccini have ancient origins; they are already mentioned in the dictionary of the Accademia della crusca of 1691. Their name derives from the particular cut of the dough strand, diagonally into slices, which is attributable to the word “canto”, angle, or “cantellus”, piece of bread.
Ingredients for about 35 cantucci
- 2 eggs
- 300 gr. all purpose flour 00
- 150 gr. sugar
- 40 gr butter
- 1/2 tea spoon baking soda
- 1 spoon liquid honey (I use chestnut honey)
- zest of half an orange
- 100 gr almonds
- 1 egg yolk for brushing
Preparation
- Break the two eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and work with the electric whisk briefly, one minute.
- Then add the flour and baking soda and knead until you get a grainy dough.
- Incorporate the butter, honey, grated orange peel and almonds and knead until a smooth and elastic dough is obtained. It will take a few minutes.
- Divide the dough into two parts and with floured hands stretch the dough until you get two loaves that you will arrange on a baking tray coated with parchment paper.
- Brush the surface with the egg yolk and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let it cool then cut each loaf into slices, diagonal, 1 cm thick. Place the slices back on the baking tray and put them back in the oven to brown for 5 minutes.
