Anyone who knows me, knows that one of my dreams is to become an 'Italian Nonna' in a Tuscan villa, with a big table outside surrounded by family and dogs, cooking for all. I am not Italian, and frankly I don't even think I have ever been to Tuscany in particular, but that's my strange dream. And as everyone should I am doing all that I can in accomplishing said dream, starting with the recipes.
Cantucci, are very similar to Biscotti. I think the only difference is the addition of almonds, but please go and ask an Italian. I'll be honest, I only came across these because I was browsing for something to go with my coffee as an afternoon pick me up, and they were in a cute box on the Sainsbury's shelf. Now with the Corona virus, and plenty of time on my hands, why not make these myself and get closer to that 'Nonna' dream?
At this point of my quarantine I had no scale, so searched for a recipe using cup measurements rather than grams. I used this one, however the Cantucci dough was awkward to work with and I wasn't the biggest fan of how they tasted and the texture once baked. I did like the way they looked though, that brown border color is definitely what I am after. And with this the search for a good recipe begins.
A combination of me not being Italian, stuck at home with nothing else to do, and searching for the perfect Cantucci I went research crazy. Felicity Cloake dives into biscotti on her Guardian column, Delia's Biscotti recipe was nice and simple, Martha Stewart's recipe in video format looks great. And from all of this research, find my mash up recipe below. This recipe doesn't ask for whisking (don't have a blender), is a butter free version (less cake-y texture, out of personal preference), and doesn't ask for a kilo of flour (because quarantine, and I can barely find flour in the supermarkets as is).
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar (I do recommend granular, versus castor sugar for this)
2 teaspoons baking powder
A pinch of Salt
3 eggs
Zest from 1 Lemon (or Orange zest)
1 tablespoon honey
150 grams almonds (as I have no scale, I eyeball 3/4 of a 200g bag)
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 175 Celsius.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest together.
Beat the eggs with a fork in a separate bowl, and then slowly add into flour bowl. Add the honey. Hand mix this with a spoon until all combined, this step can take a while. Add the almonds, and mix until combined throughout.
Place onto slightly floured surface and knead together until a ball forms. Cut in half and form two logs. This dough is super sticky so work quickly.
Bake for 35 minutes.
Remove from oven, and let cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 150 Cesius.
Cut at an angle with a serrated knife slices of about 3/4 inch.
Lay out on the baking tray and bake again for 25 minutes (or until dark brown).
Pictures of the process below:
Special Recipe notes:
This dough is super wet, and will almost start 'melting' out when you form it into a log. The first time I made it I thought it wouldn't work, however it was this 'melting' that gave the cookies the right shape in the end, so stick with it and work quickly!
I do want to further experiment with this recipe by adding Amaretto, vanilla extract, or even maybe Limoncello, but I have none of these in my quarantine kitchen.
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