#italianrivieraworkshop recipe - Almond biscuits from Prato
The day after wandering my town on the Italian Riviera, and visiting a basil farm (more on that next time), we got down to the business of styling and photographing in earnest at my workshop.We had lectures in the morning by myself, Deborah, and of course the super interesting Anne Sage on blogging and social media.After our intensive lectures in the morning, we enjoyed an alfresco lunch at our B&B Borgata Cantone Country House. After lunch, I planned a great activity for our Italian Riviera Workshop attendees: a cooking lesson from my sweet and talented friend Tuscan chef Guilia Scarpaleggia. She made dessert.Of course it made perfect sense to photograph our chef in residence in action while making her own biscotti recipe.Giulia told us she likes a little chew to her biscotti, and loves to dip it into Vin Santo. When she was a child, she was not allowed to dip into this very strong digestivo, so she used water instead, to this day she enjoys it this way as well. It brings back childhood memories. So Italian. We all had a great time shooting the process as well as the finished product.I styled up the last shot and then of course we all ate them up. They were delicious. I wanted to share her recipe here. Thanks to Giulia and to all our enthusiastic students who participated in my first Italian Riviera Workshop. More to come...in the meantime make these and enjoy! xx
Biscotti di Prato, i cantuccini – Almond biscuits from Prato
You will need:- 2 eggs, whites and yolks separated- 230 g sugar- 20 g orange honey- 250 g flour- ½ teaspoon baking ammonia- Grated peel of 1 orange- 125 g unpeeled almonds- 1 bottle of vinsanto
To prepare:
Preheat oven to 180°C, fan assisted.
Whip the egg whites for about 5 minutes until they are firm, then add the sugar and whip until you get a glossy and thick meringue.
Fold in thoroughly the honey and the egg yolks, then fold gently in the flour sifted with the baking ammonia and the grated orange peel. Mix in the almonds.
Line with parchment paper a large baking pan and with the help of a spoon form two loaves of dough keeping them well separated, about 5 cm wide and 30 cm long.Bake them for about 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes and then cut them slantwise into 2 cm thick slices with a sharp knife, then arrange them cut-side-down in the baking tin and put them back in the oven for about 5 - 10 minutes, until toasted.You can store them in a tin for several days.Photo by : Anne Sage