The Cantuccini
It took me many trial and errors to get these exactly the way I want. In Switzerland and Germany, there is a brand called Alnatura, which sells these. They happen to be quite expensive in Switzerland (like everything, really), so I wanted to try to imitate them. These are different from classical Italian Cantuccini, as they are less sweet and made with whole wheat flour. I personally prefer these over classical ones, even the original Cantuccini Fiorentini (I understand I made myself a lot of Italian enemies this very moment). Hope you like them!
Ingredients
- 125 g whole wheat flour I use German "Dinkel" flour
- 100 g white flour
- 25 g coconut flour
- some extra flour for dough kneading
- 120 g sugar *see note
- 100 g almonds, raw
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp amaretto
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 package vanilla sugar
- 2-3 drops almond extract
- 2-3 drops vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Combine flours, baking powder, lemon and orange zest, salt, and mix well.
- Whisk eggs, add honey, sugars, extracts, amaretto, and mix well.
- Add flour mixture to wet mixture and mix until well combined, but still a bit crumbly. Add the almonds, mix it in well. At this point, put the dough mixture on a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth. Add some more flour, if needed, but make sure it does not end up too dry.
- Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll them into logs that are approximately as long as the baking sheet, and about 2.5 cm wide.
- Cover your baking sheet with parchment and add the logs. Flatten them slightly, so that they can take on their lengthy form. Place them in the oven for approximately 25 minutes.*
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and reduce the temperature to 160° C.
- Place the logs on a cutting board and using a sharp knife, cut it diagonally into slices, about 1.5 cm thick.
- Put the slices back on the baking sheet and back in the oven for about 5 minutes** per side.
Notes
* I do not like things very sweet, so for some of you, this might not be enough sugar. I saw Italian recipes calling for 150 g of sugar, and some Americans for 165, to give you some idea. The Italian “proper” recipes I saw do not have honey in it, so perhaps something in between makes sense. The honey makes them more flavourful and slightly less dry to me.
** It took me a lot of trials to get the timing right. You want it to be entirely cooked on the inside and brown on the outside, but not too brown. If you take them out, I suggest cutting one log in half and checking whether the inside is still a bit raw. If that’s the case, stick it back to the oven for another 5-10 minutes.
*** I tried to leave it in the oven shorter and longer, and my boyfriend and I had some disagreements here. He preferred the version with 2.5 minutes baked on each side, me the one 5 minutes – it makes it more crunchy, which to me Cantuccini should be. You can try two batches and compare.