Today we will talk about another difference in the way the same thing is called in Italy vs US.
As per title today we will talk about the difference between the word "biscotto" and the word "Cantuccio or Tozetto".
In Italy, with biscotto, you generally talk about any kind of cookie! There isn't a specific cookie, can be plain, with chocolate chips, with nuts, honey, anise, a lot of butter, no matter what you will put in the dough it will always be called biscotto.
The word comes from the Latin "panis biscotus" that means twice cooked bread(pane cotto due volte) and it refers to the cooking technique. It was designed to remove completely the humidity from the final product so that it could have been stored for a very long time.
Cantuccini or Tozzetti, on the other hand, is the name of a very specific cookie. The photo will help whoever knows Cantuccini with a different name.
Cantuccini are a very popular dessert, created in Tuscany, and are often paired with "Vin Santo"(Holy Wine) a sweet dessert wine. The best way to enjoy it is to dip the cookie in the wine and then eat it. According to your taste you can dip the cookie for a short or long time, depends if you like it crunchy or soggy. I personally prefer it more on the crunchy side!
Cantuccini are dry cookies with almonds and are made in Toscana(Tuscany) while are named Tozzetti if made in Lazio or Umbria and in general are made with hazelnuts or other kind of nuts.
Cantucci are made from a dough of flour, sugar, eggs and almonds. The almonds are not roasted or peeled. Once the dough is ready and cooked it is cut diagonally and the result is the cookie as we know it. This technique of cutting the dough diagonally can be a reason of the name Cantucci. Anciently "canto" was the name that described an angle, so the angled way used to cut the dough.
The name could also come from "cantellus" that in Latin means slice or piece of bread.
If you find yourself walking in Prato, a city in Toscana, stop by the "Biscottificio Antonio Mattei", it is supposed to be the the store that created Cantucci the way we know them.
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