Cantucci are traditional almond biscuits similar to ‘biscotti’ that originated from the Italian region of Tuscany. They are delicious, but very hard in texture so what most Italians would do is dunk them in their morning coffee, or in a glass of Vin Santo, which softens them up just enough to devour easily.
Vin Santo is an Italian liqueur that is deliciously sweet, warm and earthy, and perfect for a little treat after dinner. I tasted my first Vin Santo some years ago on one of our first trips to Italy. My husband and I had our first big trip away without kids and hired a campervan to travel around Italy. Now, there’s many many stories to that crazy trip (think driving a 4 berth campervan into the Vatican city on Easter Friday, or navigating the edge of a cliff driving into Portofino and needing the reverse because a bus is coming the other way and there’s not enough room for you both, just to name a couple of experiences), but I’ll share those stories another time.
It was that trip when I discovered the pure joy of dipping biscuits into Vin Santo, which was decidedly better than the ‘rough red’ we could otherwise afford while camping near Florence. After a platter of all our favourite finds from a day out, wafer-thin prosciutto, balls of creamy buffalo mozzarella, sun-ripened tomatoes, golden chewy bread, a couple of glasses of Vin Santo accompanied with these choc-full of almond biscuits was the perfect end to the day.
I can’t find Vin Santo where I live ( a small mining town ), but chances are you can. I urge you to buy a bottle and send me one. No, what I meant to say is, please buy yourself a bottle and make these biscuits. Dip them in and you’ll see what I mean by how simple a dessert can be, yet how utterly addictive. If you can’t find Vin Santo, try sherry or another sweet liqueur. And don’t worry, you don’t HAVE to eat these with booze, they are perfect just as they are, and kids love them too. If you want, dunk them in coffee, tea or milk instead, or just tuck in (I’d advise using the back teeth though…) . Due to their hard texture, they keep for ages, so make a couple of batches and store in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
Recipe from my book: Food for Sharing – Italian Style
This recipe makes around 30 biscuits.
Cantucci
Ingredients
300g plain flour
190g white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp honey
Finely grated rind of 1 small orange
1 tsp almond essence
100g almond kernels
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well, using your hands if needed as the mixture becomes quite stiff.
Halve the dough and form into two logs, around 5cm wide. Place on the lined oven tray.
Cook for 35 minutes, or until golden, then remove and allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.
Gently transfer to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut on a diagonal into 1 1/2 cm slices.
Reduce the heat to 160 C and arrange the slices onto the oven tray, cut sides up. Cook for another 15 minutes, or until dry and crisp.
Remove from the oven, cool, then store in airtight containers for up to 3 months.
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