Crunchy v. Crumbly: Cantucci

I don't think I had heard of the term "cantucci" until I came across Thalia Ho's cantucci recipe in her Wild Sweetness cookbook; the cookies in the photo look like stubby biscotti. I asked my good friend Kristina Gill (author of the cookbook Tasting Rome) about the difference between biscotti and cantucci and she explained that a cantuccio (the singular form of cantucci) is a type of biscotto (the singular form of biscotti). All cookies are biscuits, or "biscotti" in Italian, and the word literally means "twice cooked." Cantucci are the twice-baked cookies that Americans think of as "biscotti," but in fact not all biscotti (as the term is used in Italy) are baked twice like cantucci. 

I've made a lot of biscotti in my time, but the particular flavor combination in this recipe was novel to me: almonds, lemon, white chocolate, crystallized ginger, and thyme. To make the dough, you cream softened butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy; add eggs, followed by almond extract and lemon zest; incorporate flour, fresh thyme leaves, baking powder, and salt; and stir in roasted almonds, white chocolate (I used Callebaut Gold), and crystallized ginger. 

I chilled the dough briefly before shaping it into two logs that I baked until golden. I was supposed to brush the logs with egg white before baking but totally forgot and it wasn't a big deal. After the baked logs had cooled for a bit, I sliced them into cookies and baked them again to dry them out.

I really liked the combination of flavors in these cookies, and especially appreciated the big chunks of almonds and the crystallized ginger. The thyme was surprisingly subtle and the lemon was more prominent by comparison. I could taste the thyme because I knew it was there, but I'm doubtful most people would be able to identify it. These cookies were crumbly, throwing off a ton of good-sized granular crumbs with every bite. I guess the texture should not have come as a surprise to me, because the recipe headnote says that Ho likes her cantucci crumbly, buttery, and short. But I am quite accustomed to biscotti being crunchy, not crumbly. And I have to say that I prefer the crunchy variety; I like my biscotti dry and loud! I might have to try adding crystallized ginger and thyme to some crunchy almond biscotti. 

 

Recipe: "Cantucci" from Wild Sweetness by Thalia Ho.