Cantucci, almond cookies for Tu B'Shevat

Cantucci... that’s how these almond cookies are calledin Tuscany.
These cookies can be found all over the country and around the world, being one of the most popular Italian sweets. (Bt the way, the word biscotti is the plural of biscotto, and it means cookies or biscuits.)  A few ingredients might vary from recipe to recipe. And the one that I will share with you is the one that I've been making for many years. I love these little crispy cookies! First of all, it takes only a few minutes to prepare the dough. Second, you can make big quantities as you can store them for several days! 

Let’s go to the recipe...

Ingredients:

400 g / 14 oz of chopped or halved almonds

500 g / 17¾oz of flour

250 g / 8¾oz of sugar

4 eggs

1 package of vanilla sugar (8 g / approx. 2 tsp)

½ package of baking powder (7,5 g / a bit less than 2 tsp)

1 tbsp of grated orange zest

(milk, as needed)

*  *  *  *  *

Preheat the oven at 190°C/375°F.

Roast the almonds for a few minutes either in the oven or in a pan. Let them cool off and then chop or halve them.

Mix the flour with the baking powder in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients, including the almonds, except the milk. If the mixture is a bit too dry, only then, add a little milk. Just enough to get a homogenous dough.

Shape the dough in long thin rolls (about 5cm/2 inches wide, 2,5cm/1 inch high) and bake for about 20-25 min until golden. Take them out of the oven, let them cool off a little until you feel comfortable touching them. Then cut them into slices (about 2cm/¾ inches wide).

Put them back on the baking sheet with the cut side up. Bake them again for approx. 5min. If they still don’t look golden enough, leave them in for 2 or 3 min. longer. But make sure not to bake them for too long, or you will risk a tooth or two ;) They tend to get hard quickly!

Prep Time: 1h