Cantucci
Learn how to make authentic Cantucci with my tried and tested recipe. Making Italian almond biscotti are not very hard to do, even for a beginner baker.
This cantucci recipe is the best ever and completely addictive!!
Table of Contents
So what are biscotti?
Biscotti generally refer to the twice baked, oblong Italian cookie that is dry and crunchy. The dough is shaped into logs, baked, cooled and sliced and baked again until dry and crispy.
The original biscotto is from Prato in Tuscany and didn’t contain any fat. Being free from moisture, these biscotti keeps very well and became a favourite of sailors and other travellers embarking on long journeys.
These Tuscan cookies are also known as cantucci, cantuccini or biscotti di Prato and are full of almonds and often flavoured with anise, amaretto or lemon. And hard biscotti are always dunked in vin santo (Italian sweet dessert wine) or a coffee to soften.
Why you’ll love this recipe
On my recent travel to Italy, I sample lots of cantucci in Tuscany and purchased a Tuscan cookbook with the original recipe. But when I tried making cantucci without butter or oil, according to the recipe, the result was such a hard cookie that it would cause dental problems! Has that happened to you?
Today in Italy, most cantucci contain a portion of butter except for those not baked the second time.
So for this recipe, I tested and retested multiple times with different flours, quantities of butter or oil. You’ll love that this cantucci recipe makes a cookie that is firm and crunchy but not too hard but won’t fall apart when you dunk!
For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Ingredient notes
This cantucci recipe is loosely based on the traditional recipe from the little cookbook I purchased in Siena.
- Flour: all purpose or plain flour
- Sugar: simple granulated white sugar
- Whole eggs: I like free range
- Almonds: unblanched (skin on) and toasted
- Butter: It does contain a little bit of butter which means these biscotti will not break teeth. The butter also carries and intensifies the flavour of the almonds and lemon.
- Baking powder: just a little for a slightly lighter crumb
- Flavourings: honey, lemon rind and vanilla
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC and line a large baking sheet with non stick parchment paper.
- Toast the almonds and set aside to cool.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients and combine to form a dough.
- Gently form it into a smooth ball.
- Divide into four pieces and roll each into a log.
- Place onto baking paper lined oven tray and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly until you can handle the loaves.
- Reduce heat to 300°F/150ºC
- Cut with a serrated knife while still warm.
- Bake again for 10-15 minutes.
Storage
Because this recipe contains butter, these biscotti will not keep as long as the traditional ones. But in an airtight container, you will still be eating a biscotto for at least the next week with your morning coffee. However, this is a recipe that works perfectly well to be made ahead and baked cookies can be frozen in airtight containers.
When defrosting, you must leave the lid on your containers until completely defrosted. Otherwise condensation may cause the biscotti to become soft. All is not lost if this occurs. Simply refresh by arranging on baking trays and bake in an oven preheated to 300°F/150ºC for 5-8 minutes.
Tips for success and FAQ’s
- Always toast nuts. This applies to any recipe where you use nuts. Toasted have much more flavour.
- Don’t overknead. Gently form into a dough.
- This dough is meant to be sticky. Don’t add more flour.
- Allow room for spreading otherwise the logs will stick together.
- Cut while warm.
The main key is in the second baking. Too little and your cantucci will be soft. Too much and your cantucci will be too hard. I have found good results at 10-12 minutes. When removed from the oven these Tuscan cookies will be a little soft but will harden on cooling. In fact, storing for a day or two in an airtight container will improve the crunch even more.
Cantucci and biscotti are the same. To be more precise, cantucci are almond biscotti from Tuscany. The smaller version are known as cantuccini.
In Italy, all cookies are known as biscotti. However what the rest of the world knows as biscotti, Italians refer to as cantucci. So the difference is one of language and the use of these particular words in either Italy or the rest of the world.
According to the “Italian food rules”, cantuccini are served with a small glass of vin santo. Vin santo is translated to “holy wine”. Dip these cantuccini into the wine to soften and sweeten the cookies.
Serve these Italian almond biscotti with espresso or cappuccino or even tea which is becoming more popular in Italy for its ‘health’ benefit.
Traditional cantucci last for weeks or even months. However my recipe for cantucci contain a little bit of butter so they will last for less time. Kept in a sealed container, these Italian almond biscotti will last for at least one week.
Serving suggestions
Serving Suggestions
These cookies are also perfect alongside a creamy dessert like these:
Making biscotti at home is incredibly easy and rewarding. It doesn’t matter if you don’t make them perfectly the first time or even the next time because these cantucci will still taste delicous! Bake these today to bring a little of Italy into your home.
Made this recipe?
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Cantucci Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (225grams) almonds I prefer almonds with skins on
- 2½ cup (300grams) all purpose plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 cup (200grams) superfine (castor) sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest from 1 large lemon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 eggs
- 3 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (75grams) unsalted butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Spread almonds onto baking tray and toast in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool.
- Leave the oven on. Line a large baking tray or two smaller baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
- Place flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
- Break the eggs into the well and add honey, vanilla and melted, cooled butter
- Whisk together the wet ingredients slowly incorporating part of the dry ingredients.
- Before the dry ingredients are completely mixed in, switch to a wooden spoon or clean hands to finish incorporating the dry ingredients.
- As the mixture starts to come together add the almonds.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. The dough should be firm but soft.
- Divide the dough into four equal portions.
- Roll each portion into a 10in/ 25cm log. There are a lot of almonds: if the nuts pop out just poke them back in a smooth the dough over.
- Place logs onto lined baking tray and, this is optional, with a wet hand smooth the surface of the dough.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until browned.
- Removed from the oven and cool on baking trays for 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven to 300°F/150°C.
- While still warm, cut each log into 15 slices. Check my tips below on how to cut biscotti easily.
- Arrange cut side up, onto lined baking trays and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Always toast nuts. This applies to any recipe where you use nuts. Toasted have much more flavour.
- Don’t overknead. Gently form and press together into a dough.
- Allow room for spreading otherwise the logs will stick together.
- Cut while warm.
- Cut while still warm.
- Use a sharp serrated knife.
- Make a little cut using a sawing motion
- Then press the knife down firmly and sharply in one motion.
- From my experience, if you’re having a lot of trouble the first bake may not have been long enough.
Nutritional Estimate Per Serving
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.
Marcelina, I would like to use salted roasted pistachios. Do you think I would get a good salt and sweet biscotti if I also added dried cranberries and omit the salt from the recipe? I’m kinda excited to use a pistachio emulsion I bought recently. So I would flavour w that instead of other flavourings. What do you think? Grazie
Sounds good, Rosa! Yes, definitely omit the salt from the recipe. Let me know how it goes.
I just tried this recipe and it was good but next time I would use almond extract and maybe reduce the lemon zest. I used the zest of one large lemon but it seemed too much and even though there are a lot of almonds, it seemed to over power them. It still will taste lovely with coffee or tea! 🥰🥰🥰
That would be a good variation, Chris.
Marcelina, Do you use blanched almonds? Thank you, Joanne
Hello Joanne, no I don’t used blanched almonds. I’ll update the recipe to say that. Good question!
Best biscotti I’ve ever taste and made. This recipe has become staple in my pantry, I made it twice every month. That’s how good it is.
Irene, that’s great to hear! This recipe has been thoroughly tested and tasted and we love it too!
This recipe and the tips are great! Am enjoying the biscotti so much with my morning coffee 😀
This will be my go to recipe from now on.
Thank you Marcellina!
Thanks Kareen! My family loves these so much and I’m happy to hear you do too. Enjoy!
Amazing biscotti recipe! I have made many and this by far is the easiest, tastiest (without being too hard!). Can you please tell me how you would change the recipe to make them anise flavored (my favorite)?
Thank you again for sharing your love with us!
Thank you, Anita! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe which I tested and tweaked multiple times to achieve the final version. I haven’t tested it to make anise biscotti but I would begin with omitting the almonds and the lemon zest. Then add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of anise extract (depending on your taste) and continue with the recipe. It still may need some tweaking but I think that would work quite well.
Hi Marcellina,
Your recipe is just perfect. I made these and my 2 children love them. It is good to find recipes from someone with a lot of experience in cooking 🙂 Thank you for sharing
Hi Cecile! Thank you for such a lovely message! I’m so glad you and your children love them as much as we do.
This is a very good biscotti recipe and the amount of toasted almonds to dough adds a nice crispness that has been lacking in other recipes I’ve tried, without being a tooth breaker. Not too sweet as well. I added 3/4 tsp of almond extract because I love the flavor, but that is a personal preference. The directions were nice and clear at possible error points. To cut I just used a very sharp knife and pushed straight down without problems. Do you have a recipe for Regina/ sesame cookies? Thank you!
Hi Kathy! Thanks for your review! No, at the moment I haven’t posted my sesame cookies but that coming – stay tuned!!
Steps are easy to follow and wow this recipe is delicious.
So glad you love this recipe as much as we do, Kurt!
Hi Marcellina, I tried your recipe for the first time, and came out really well.There are so many recipes out there.I wanted to try them again because they are really tempting and finished in no time.Unfortunately I did not save the recipe and was really sorry.So I stared to look for it with no clue at all.I spent a lot of time yesterday with no result.I started again this afternoon and incidentally after looking at every cantuccini recipe, finally I came across yours, thank God I found it.I saved it for sure.Thank you.xxx
Hello Esther! Yes, you’re so right! There are so many recipes for almond biscotti or cantuccini and many not very good, that’s true. This recipe was tested on my family many, many times. Each time we compared mine with biscotti I had bought in Italy (I bought many packets and tucked them all into my suitcase lol). Each time my family would say what they liked and what needed to be changed until the biscotti were perfect. When I receive comments like yours and I make another family happy, then I know it’s all worth it. Baci xxx
I love your attitude….I’m the same way, love when someone loves my effort when I’m making food. Would eliminating the lemon juice totally change how the biscotti would taste. Thanks for all your help. Joanne
Hi Joanne! Thank you so much for your comment! It’s lemon zest that used in this biscotti recipe not lemon juice and yes, it would change the taste. The addition of lemon zest is the key to these biscotti tasting the same as the ones I purchased in Italy. Of course, you can leave it out if you prefer.
Would love a note on what to leave out or change to get the ORIGINAL cookie since dipping will always soften the cookie and I’d like to try the ORIGINAL for myself!
Hi TC! That would be a completely different recipe. However you could try leaving out the butter and adding another egg to make up for the liquid content.
Can this dough to make in pasta machine
No, I wouldn’t so that. It’s a very easy dough to bring together in a bowl and not hard to knead like pasta. This is a much softer dough. Hope that helps.
This is the best recipe. My husband loves them as do friends. I sometimes use orange zest instead of lemon and they are yummy. I’m so glad I found this recipe. Thank you.
Thank you for your feedback, Anne! I’m so happy that you love them as much as we do! The orange zest is a great idea.
Hi, the biscottis look delicious!
I’d like to know what I could use instead of butter?
Thanks ❣️
Hi Audrey! I’ve tested this recipe using olive oil instead of butter. It did work but I prefer the taste and texture of butter. So you could use olive oil or another oil. Maybe a butter substitute like margarine would work but I’ve never tested that. Good luck xx
Hi there , this is my absolute favorite recipe!! Just wanted to know if you could substitute almonds for a different nut or even add some dried fruit ( like cranberries) in as well ? Xx
Hi Lia! So nice to hear from you! Yes, absolutely. Hazelnuts are really delicious in this recipe but you could try other nuts as well. Dried fruit like cranberries are perfect as well. Take care xx
Hi again Marcellina
I tried out the recipe again. I realised you use 70 gram eggs and I had used only 60 gram eggs. Also.. I didn’t toast the almonds long enough or cooled them enough before using. After following your instructions and using 70 gram eggs.. I’m happy to inform you that the cantucci turned out beautifully. 1 or 2 stubborn almonds still chose to fall out but the rest stayed in place. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe and for being so patient in helping me figure out where I went wrong.
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes
Warmest regards.. Constance
Hello Constance, I’m so glad that worked out for you! Yes, I always use 70g eggs. Thank you for pointing that out to me. I’ll be more specific in future. It really does make a difference. In any case, I’m so glad you tried again and had success xx
I made this but there were almonds that had gaps around it which caused the almonds to fall out while the logs were being sliced. What can I do to prevent this?
Also.. the almonds were chewy and not crunchy even after cooling down. What can I do to make sure the almonds are crunchy like the rest of the cantucci?
The taste is spot on.. love it. Only need to get the above 2 things right to have the perfect cantucci.
Thank you
Hello Constance! I think the problem with the almonds having gaps around them is that the dough was not pressed enough together. When you knead, it should be more of a pushing and pressing the dough together. And when you form the the logs, press the dough firmly together. I’ve never had the problem but I have used a lot of almonds in this recipe so you could even try to reduce the amount of almonds. You said the almonds we chewy – did you toast them first? If you did that should solve that problem.
I’m so glad that you love the taste. My family adores these cantucci! I do hope these tips help. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to contact me.
Take care and let me know how you go xx
Oh yums! What a delicious treat. Lovely recipe. I just saved it and will give it a try over the weekend. Can’t wait.
I’ve never thought making biscotti is actually so simple. Can’t wait to try this recipe and enjoy them over coffee.
Tastes and smells amazing- but needed to add much more flour to be workable. End product delicious.
Glad you enjoyed them!
I love biscotti, but I’ve never made it myself. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Jessica, you really must try this recipe. You won’t be sorry!
Can you cook the 4ths in loaf pans? Want to send a couple to west coast, will they be ok with 3-5 shipping days? Thanks
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