Cantuccini Toscani

Appearance & taste

Cantuccini Toscani have a half-oval shape, which comes from cutting the baked log of dough diagonally into slices. One piece weighs at most 15 g and is at most 10 cm long, 3 cm high and 2.8 cm thick. The cut surface is light and shows irregular bubbles from the rising of the dough and unpeeled almonds distributed at random; the top is golden brown from baking.

The biscuit is slightly crunchy and grainy at first, but because of the butter and its moisture content of 3 to at most 7 % it dissolves in the mouth. The label may carry the note “alle mandorle” (with almonds), and the packaging may also give the almond content as a percentage.

Production

The dough consists of wheat flour, whole, unpeeled sweet almonds with at most 8.5 % moisture, pasteurised hen’s eggs and egg yolk, butter, sugar, a little blossom honey and, as needed, raising agents. The almonds make up at least 17 % of the dough and at least 20 % of the finished biscuit; butter is the only fat. Salt, whole milk, flavourings and glucose or invert sugar syrup are also allowed, the syrup only for brushing the logs of dough before baking. Other ingredients, additives, colourings and preservatives, dried egg as well as almond sticks, chopped almonds and almond flour are not permitted.

All steps from processing the ingredients to baking the logs of dough take place in Tuscany. Packing is also done there: as a dry biscuit, the product absorbs moisture from the air, and the packaging is meant to preserve its characteristics, partly so that it is suitable for dipping in the Tuscan dessert wine Vin Santo. It is sold pre-packed; at the producer’s premises it may also be offered loose in labelled containers.

Origin & history

The area covers the whole region of Tuscany. According to the specification, the region’s confectionery craft owes its origins to the lively trade in spices and other goods and to the exchange of recipes made possible by Tuscany’s central location.

According to the historian Ferri, almonds have been a fixed part of the recipe since the second half of the 19th century. In his collection of Tuscan folk traditions, the folklorist Giuseppe Pitré called the cantucci a typically Tuscan biscuit. At the beginning of the 20th century they also became known outside the region; Giuseppe Ciocca included them in his recipe collection “Il Pasticciere e confettiere moderno” in 1907. According to the specification, butter and raising agents make the biscuit keep well and suitable for export; deliveries to Italian delicatessens abroad are documented, as is, for example, participation in the IBA trade fair in Hamburg in 1986. According to the specification, the link with Vin Santo, with which many Tuscan restaurants serve cantuccini as a dessert, has also contributed to their reputation.