Cantucci
Tuscan biscuits from Prato, served with a glass of vin santo for dipping. Their other name, biscotti di Prato, comes from 'bis cotto' — twice baked — and that is the whole method: first as a log, then in slices. The critical moment is the cutting — the log is sliced warm but not hot. Hot it squashes and the almonds fall out; cold it crumbles and half the slices break.
Your own work in that: 12 min.
- Dough 25 min
- First bake 28 min
- Slicing 12 min
- Second bake 18 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneRoast the almonds and cool them
Roast the whole almonds 10 minutes at 170°C and cool completely — warm nuts heat an already sticky dough and make it harder to shape. Do not skin them — in cantucci the almonds are whole, with a brown rim in the cut face.
Ingredients: 250 g almonds · 1 tsp anise
Beat the eggs with sugar until pale
Beat the eggs with the sugar, salt, orange zest and vanilla for 4 minutes, until pale. This is the only aeration in a dough made without butter or oil — it is what keeps the biscuits crisp rather than stony.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Fold in flour and almonds, briefly
Add the flour with the baking powder and mix only until combined, then fold in the almonds and, if using, the anise. The dough will be sticky and soft — that is correct. Do not add flour; a stiff dough gives biscuits hard as stone.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Shape two flattened logs
With wet hands shape two logs 7 cm wide and 2 cm high, set well apart on a lined tray. They spread noticeably in the oven — logs placed too close fuse into a single slab.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Two flat logs, well apart — they spread in the oven.Glaze with yolk and bake 28 minutes
Brush the logs with beaten yolk and bake 28 minutes at 170°C, until golden and springy. The centre should still be soft — the real drying happens in the second bake.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Wait 10 minutes and slice on the diagonal
Slide the logs onto a board and wait exactly 10 minutes. Cut with a serrated knife, on the diagonal, into finger-thick slices, sawing rather than pressing. Pressure crushes the biscuit and pushes the almonds out.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Warm, not hot — serrated knife, a sawing motion.Lay cut side down and dry out
Lay the slices cut side down and bake at 150°C for 18 minutes in total: 9 minutes, turn, another 9 minutes. Turning halfway dries them evenly; without it one side stays moist and the biscuit softens within a day.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cut side down and turned halfway — even drying.Cool on a rack until fully hard
Cool on a rack completely — cantucci harden only once cold and seem too soft straight from the oven. Do not extend the second bake for that reason; the verdict belongs to a cold biscuit.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 250 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 1 pcs egg yolk · 1 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · 1 pcs orange · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Before you start
No fat, no butter
Traditional biscotti di Prato contain neither butter nor oil — which is why they are so hard and stay crisp for so long. Butter recipes give softer, pleasanter biscuits on their own but they disintegrate in wine instead of soaking it up.
Dipped in vin santo
In Tuscany a cantuccio is dipped for a few seconds into a glass of vin santo, a sweet dessert wine. The hard biscuit softens at the edges and takes on the aroma of the wine. They are good dry too, but best with wine.
A month in a tin
Cantucci keep a month in an airtight tin and barely change — biscuits made for keeping. If damp softens them, put them in a 150°C oven for 5 minutes and cool again.
