Biscotti

Did You Know?

• In the Catalan city of Vic, Carquinyoli is also the name of a ceremonial figure who orchestrates an annual summer festival in honor of the patron saint Albert of Sicily.
• In Vilanova i la Geltrú, biscotti with almonds are called currutacos and are most typically associated with Palm Sunday, when they ornament palm leaves distributed to worshipers.

Etymology

The Italian word biscotti originates from the Medieval Latin biscoctus, meaning 'twice-cooked', describing dough baked twice to become very dry and storable. Such non-perishable food was useful during journeys and wars, and twice-baked breads were a staple of Roman legions. In modern Italian, biscotto refers to any biscuit or cookie; the English-speaker's biscotti is usually called cantuccio, a word meaning 'corner' that once referred to the crust or heel of a loaf. Biscottini and cantuccini are diminutives for smaller versions.

History

In modern Italy, the biscuits most people call biscotti are specifically the biscotti di Prato from Prato, though they are also widely known as cantuccini. These names actually point to other similar regional Italian products. Today, cantuccini is the common term in Tuscany, but it originally described variations that strayed from the traditional recipe, for example by using yeast or extra flavorings. Rusks are a different, larger biscuit made from rustic bread dough enriched with olive oil and anise seeds.

The name confusion likely stems from the historic sign of the Biscottificio Antonio Mattei, a leading producer of Prato biscuits, which reads “Manufacturers of cantuccini.” Over time, people came to associate cantuccini with the biscuits typical of Sardinia and Sicily. In Spain and France, the Catalan carquinyoli or carquinyol uses whole or sliced almonds and is tied to inland Catalonia and the Terra Alta. In some inland Valencian towns, similar biscuits are called rosegons or rosegós.

Menorcan carquinyols are square and contain no whole almonds. One Catalan food writer traces carquinyoli to the French croquignole, of Germanic origin; in France, a similar biscuit is known as croquant.

Recipes

The traditional recipe for biscotti comes from a 19th-century variation by Prato pastry chef Antonio Mattei, who earned a special mention at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle. His version uses only flour, sugar, eggs, pine nuts, and unroasted, unskinned almonds, with no yeast or fat. The barely moist dough is baked twice: first as a slab, then after slicing, with the second bake determining the hardness. Today, mass-produced biscotti are actually closer to cantuccini, a different variation. Modern recipes often include nuts like almonds, pistachios, or hazelnuts, as well as spices such as anise or cinnamon. They may also add baking powder, wet flavorings like almond extract or liquor, and after the second bake, a glaze like chocolate.

Uses

Because biscotti are very dry, they are often dunked into a drink before eating. In Italy, they are a post-dinner treat paired with Vin Santo, a Tuscan fortified wine. In Catalonia, the similar carquinyolis come with a small glass of sweet muscat or moscatell. Biscotti also appear as an ingredient in Catalan cooking, such as rice with sardines, rabbit with snails, and sauces for calçots. Along the Baix Llobregat coast, they help make the sauce for duck stuffed with turnips.