Biscotti, cantuccini or carquinyolis

Hello friends!

Today I'm bringing the recipe for these little biscotti that we all have seen at some point in a grocery store 🍪

In Catalonia, we call them "carquinyolis" (from the French croquignole I suppose), a funny name really 😄 According to Catalonia.com, the most famous versions of this cookie are found in Caldes de Montbui, Vic, Cardedeu and L’Espluga de Francolí. In the Catalan version, almonds are soaked in water and baked twice. I didn't soak the almonds, I roasted them - God, and fellow Catalans, forbid 😅

I was actually more inspired by the Italian version called "cantuccini", Biscuit People clarify "The original cantuccini mixture is composed exclusively of flour, sugar, eggs, and almonds, without any form of yeast or fat. The dough is then cooked twice, with the second baking defining how hard the biscotti are.".

Mine have lemon zest (oops), which gives an interesting citrusy note, as well as some butter and baking powder. Truth is, I hate when biscottis are hard to bite so the butter makes it just a tiny bit softer.

This take on the classic really makes that Sunday afternoon coffee after lunch more enjoyable 😋 If you try this recipe, let me know down in the comments your thoughts :)

Biscotti, cantuccini or carquinyolis

Yields: approximately 20 unities

Author: Montse

Ingredients

125g almonds, with skin on

150g all-purpose flour

70g brown cane sugar or jaggery

40g butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

Zest, from one lemon

Optional: pistachios, raisins, dry cranberries, or chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

1. Roast almonds in the oven for 10 minutes. Once roasted, cool down completely.

2. While the almonds are cooling down, grab a bowl and combine the flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt

3. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients: egg, honey, and vanilla.

4. Once everything is well combined, start adding the butter and mix well. When the mixture is well combined, add the almonds.

5. transfer to your work surface and knead slightly: there should be no lumps 😊

6. Grab some baking paper or plastic wrap and make two cylinders, if the almonds don't stick, just put them back in the dough and continue shaping the cylinders.

7. Refrigerate so the mixture hardens a little, approximately 30 minutes or overnight.

8. Preheat the oven to 180ºC, and prepare a baking tray

9. Place cylinders and paint them with egg wash

10. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

11. Immediately after, take the cylinders out of the oven and transfer to a cutting board with the baking paper.

12. With a serrated knife (bread knife) cut each cylinder into little slices (not straight like a baguette, but more like in parallel; the longer, the better). Check the pictures above 😄

13. Place the slices of biscotti side up in the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

14. Once our biscotti are done, transfer to a wire rack and enjoy!

Buon appetito!