More recipes
from Tuscany

Cantucci

Sesame and cardamom cookies

• 125 GRAM SELF RAISING FLOUR
• 1 EGG
• 50 GRAM SUGAR
• RIND FROM 1 LEMON
• 50 GRAM ALMONDS

• 75 GRAM SELF RAISING FLOUR
• 75 GRAM BUTTER, soft
• 100 GRAM SUGAR
• 1 EGG
• 75 GRAM SESAME SEEDS
• 10 CARDAMOM PODS, cut open and use inside seeds

Beat the eggs with the sugar and stir in the other ingredients. Make a long roll and bake this 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Allow to cool down and cut the roll in thin slices. Bake the slices at 150 degrees Celsius, 10 minutes each side.

Toast the sesame seeds 5 minutes in the oven at 175 degrees Celsius. Beat the butter, the egg and the sugar for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and put, with a small spoon, little heaps of batter on a greased oven tray. Bake the cookies 6 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius.

Cantucci come from Prato, in Tuscany, Italy. The original cantucci were made with almonds, from the almond grove of Prato. Now they are found with aniseed, lemon or amaretto. They were baked doubly (like other biscotti) to increase the shelf life and thus, they were the ideal accompaniment of travelers. There is some confusion over the words cantucci or biscotti: some say biscotti is just a general term for doubly baked cookies. Anyway, in Tuscany they are called cantucci.