Recipe – Cantucci

A typical end to a meal in Italy are almond biscuits (Cantucci) dipped in vin santo. Vin Santo is a sweet dessert wine from Tuscany in Italy. Cantucci has become a popular Christmas biscuit in Norway. There are many recipes for Cantucci and these can contain almonds, chocolate, pistachios, dried apricots, cranberries, lemon zest and orange zest. Here is a recipe from our friends Mauro and Tze’ela who make up Cooking in Tuscany, in Lucca. Primatoscana collaborates with Cooking in Tuscany who, upon request, can come to your holiday villa and prepare meals for families and larger groups.

Cantucci as Mauro makes them

400 gr. sifted flour
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
100 gr. almonds unshelled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 drop of orange essence (alternatively orange zest)
1 pinch of salt

Whisk together eggs and egg yolks with sugar. Add the flour, a little at a time. Add baking powder, orange zest, salt and finally the almonds. The dough should be nice and firm. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Roll the pieces into ‘sausages’, same length as the baking tray. Place the ‘sausages’ on a baking tray with baking paper. Gently flatten the ‘sausages a little using the palm of your hand. They should have a width of 3-4 cm.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for about 20 minutes (in the middle of the oven).

Once out of the oven, while is still hot, cut each of the pieces (slightly at an angle) into 1 cm thick slices. Place the cakes on the baking tray, slightly apart, and bake them for another 5 minutes. Cool the Cantucci on a rack. Buon appetito!