The cantuccio toscano is a typical and famous tuscan biscuit which is considered the third most popular biscuit in the world. It is a dried biscuit with the shape of a small slice and it is produced with flour, eggs, sugar and almonds. Its origin dates back to the sixteenth century.The Accademia of Crusca, an Italian society for scholars and linguists founded in Florence in 1583, gave the following definition of cantuccio: sliced biscuit, with flour, sugar and egg white.
The version with almonds was introduced later at the Court of Medici. In the 19th century the Cantuccio Toscano became very popular and nowadays it is considered the third most popular biscuit worldwide.
In Italy it is a tradition to eat the cantuccio with Vin Santo del Chianti wine, but a lot of people eat cantucci (i.e. plural of cantuccio in Italian) while drinking a cup of coffee. Also in the United States the cantuccio accompanies coffee or cappuccino while in Japan it is usually served with tea.
The recipe for making cantucci is very simple. You just need the following ingredients:
500 grams of flour
4 eggs
250 grams of shelled almonds
2 grams of baking powder
100 grams of melted butter.
To prepare soft and tasty cantucci, just like the original Tuscan recipe, mix the eggs with the sugar, a pinch of baking powder and the melted butter. Once you have obtained a fluid mixture, add the flour a little at a time. Add the toasted almonds and make two long rolls with the dough, brush them with the beaten egg and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes. Then cut the cylinders into slices and put in the oven for another 5 minutes. Let them cool before serving: the soft Tuscan cantucci, prepared according to the original recipe, are ready to be tasted.
