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The original Almond Biscotti from Tuscany

09 June 2011

Almond biscotti are quite popular here in Australia, but for The Gastronaut and his wife are one of the traditional family recipes, passed from generation to generation. The proper name of almond biscotti is "Biscotti di Prato" or "Cantucci", Prato being the town in Tuscany where they were born. The first citation of these biscuits in an official document is from 1691, when the Accademia della Crusca specify that they were "sliced cookies made with flour, sugar and eggs". Almonds were added in the recipe used for Caterina de' Medici, and were definitely used since XIX century.

The first official recipe found of almond biscotti is of Amadio Baldanzi from Prato, in the XVIII century, and in the XIX century Antonio Mattei from Prato wrote what is still consider as the original modern recipe of Biscotti di Prato. His shop still exists in Prato, and is still producing traditional Cantucci like 150 years ago.

Almond biscotti aren't twice cooked, as many think because the name "biscotti" is similar to the words "cooked twice" in Italian: biscotti is simply the translation of cookies or biscuits, and is good for every cookie. In fact, cooking twice the Cantucci is not something that any Tuscan would do!

Of course in Prato every family have the best recipe for almond biscotti :-) so you have probably 100.000 different recipes, everyone the best... At The Gastronaut we use the recipes passed from Antonella's grandfather to the last generation of her family, still based on the original recipe of the XIX century that doesn't use any butter or other fat. Thats why the biscotti are so crunchy, not because they are cooked twice, and that's why in Tuscany we use to dip them in Vin Santo (holy wine), a sweet dessert wine typical from the Chianti area, to soften them.

The original almond biscotti are produced and sold in the Slitti's cafè in Port Fairy, and are available online on The Gastronaut (here).