For years I tried to make Almond Cantucci and never, never once did they turn out as beautifully crunchy as I wanted. Then last year at Luca’s house, I watched his mom make them. The next day Chiara served them with coffee, and bam, they were just how I wanted them. Now that I have her recipe, I have no doubts; this is the most successful and tested recipe for Almond Cantucci.
These crunchy, beautifully golden hazelnut-colored cookies are typical of Tuscany, first known as “Biscotti di Prato” and then Cantucci worldwide. They are generally served at the end of the meal with Vin Santo or simply with coffee because a little sweet treat is always welcome.
There are so many recipes, some with more flour or fewer eggs, more sugar, or less butter. I’ve tried and retried, but as always, the right balance of ingredients leads to an excellent final result. I must tell you that even Chiara, who has been making this recipe for years, tried the version with chocolate chips and wasn’t satisfied. We’ll work on a solution for that next. The kitchen eventually reveals its recipe secrets if you pay attention!
You can find the recipe for Cantucci in the Autumn Desserts Collection on my blog, where I’ve compiled all the perfect sweet recipes for breakfast or a snack. You can read them by clicking here.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 40
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 114.39 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 15.97 (g) of which sugars 5.92 (g)
- Proteins 2.75 (g)
- Fat 4.99 (g) of which saturated 1.67 (g)of which unsaturated 3.12 (g)
- Fibers 0.95 (g)
- Sodium 27.63 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 0 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for about 130 Almond Cantucci
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup g sugar
- 4 cups g all-purpose flour
- 7 tbsps g butter (softened)
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 1 cup g almonds
- 1 packet baking ammonia (or instant cookie leavening)
Tools for making Cantucci
- Oven
- 1 Electric whisk
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pastry board
- 1 Knife
Preparation of Almond Cantucci
First, let’s beat the eggs in a bowl, using an electric mixer. Chiara does this step with a fork, and some even perform the entire recipe on a wooden pastry board.
Once you’ve achieved a thick cream, gradually add the sugar, the packet of instant cookie leavening, softened butter at room temperature, and the grated lemon zest.
At this point, we incorporate half of the flour, continuing to work with the mixer.
Now add the almonds to our dough. From this moment on, we will knead by hand on a floured work surface.
Continue by adding the remaining half of the flour gradually until you obtain a homogeneous and elastic dough.
We will now divide the dough into small loaves. Take a baking tray, cover it with parchment paper, and place the loaves we’ve made on top. Typically, there are 5 or 6 long loaves, or you can make 4 slightly wider ones.
Now bake the Almond Cantucci in a convection oven at 340°F for about 30 minutes or in a static oven at 356°F also for 30 minutes. After this time, we’ll remove the loaves from the oven while they’re still hot and cut them into slices, not too thick or too thin, or they will break. Cut slightly diagonally to create the classic cantucci.
Place the cantucci back on a tray with parchment paper and perform the final step in the oven, about 10 minutes.
This way, these typical Tuscan sweets will become beautifully golden and have the right crunchy texture.
Storage:
As you can see from the photo, Almond Cantucci can be stored tightly closed in glass jars or the classic old-time biscuit tin cans.
Other cookies from my blog:
I don’t have many cookie recipes on the blog, often they don’t turn out well, but these wine and anise cookies are a staple in my kitchen, try it to believe it!
