Mix few simple ingredients and you will get a traditional sweet dessert
Tozzetti are one of the most famous sweets of Umbrian tradition. Made with simple ingredients they are famous all over Europe for their sweetness and crunchiness. Loved by young and adults alike, tozzetti can be found in combination with many beverages, the traditional one is Vin Santo but tea, milk and hot chocolate are very popular too.
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Origins of this dessert
The original recipe dates back to the 16th century, when in the main Tuscan cities spread the use of cooking a kind of dough made of refined flour, butter and egg whites shaped like a long bread. After the dough was well cooked it was cut into small slices that were then toasted for a few more minutes in the oven so that the biscuits would get nice and crunchy.
The very first name is directly connected to the shape of these biscuits, in fact “cantellus” in Latin means slice of bread, which is really how they look like. Later on, in the 18th century, when these biscuits were consumed all along the middle side of Italy, some bakeries decided to add some more ingredients to the recipe to give some special flavors.
In Tuscany they added almonds and started calling them “Cantucci”; in Umbria instead they added to the dough some aniseed aroma and tried out more toppings such as hazelnuts, chocolate chips and pistachios, moreover in the following centuries they developed a softer dough so that even children could have the biscuits as a snack.
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Since original tozzetti are hard and crunchy they are served with traditional Vin Santo, a special dessert wine served on a glass in which you can dip the biscuits. This combo is the most popular one but you can also find tozzetti served with coffee or milk for the younger ones
The recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 500 g of pastry flour
- 250 g of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 70 g of butter
- 250 g of hazelnuts
- 16 g of baking powder
- zest of 1 lemon
In a large bowl whisk the eggs, the sugar, the butter and the lemon zest. When it is all well combined add the baking powder and a couple spoonfuls of flour mixing together the ingredients. Keep mixing with your hands while you keep adding the flour making sure you get a paste with no lumps. Once the dough is smooth and soft, fold in the hazelnuts, almonds or chocolate chips. Then divide the dough into 6 logs and place them in a baking sheet. Bake the dough in a preheated oven at 180° C for 30 minutes. Once the logs are golden brown, cut them into 2-3 cm slices and place them back in the baking sheet so you can easily put them back in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes in grill mode. Once they are well baked let the biscuits cool down in the tray and then serve them with some Vin Santo.
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