The biscuits are originated from Prato, a town in the beautiful region of Tuscany in Italy.
They are cooked twice to give them a dry and crunchy texture. Usually, they are made during the Christmas season. Traditionally, they are eaten and best enjoyed along with a nice glass of Vin Santo.
You find the original recipe on this website.
This is the delicious version with cocoa and chocolate chips 😋
Ingredients
Steps
– toast the almonds by placing them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, at 180°C for 10-15 minutes in static mode. Once ready, let them cool;
– melt the butter and, with the heat off, add the grated orange zest. Let it cool down;
– whip the eggs with the sugar and the pinch of salt for at least 10 minutes, till you obtain a light and fluffy mixture;
– pour the flavored butter into the egg mixture;
– combine flour, cocoa powder and baking powder;
– sift them onto the creamy mixture and mix well;
– add the toasted almonds, the chocolate chips and mix till you obtain a compact but sticky dough;
– transfer it onto the work surface dusted with flour, then divide it into 4 parts and give them the shape of small loaves;
– transfer them onto a baking tray folded with baking paper;
– to prevent them from joining during cooking, fold the baking paper between one and the other to separate them. Beat the egg and brush the surface of the loaves;
– bake them in a preheated static oven at 175-180 ° for 30 minutes or till golden;
– once baked, take the loaves out of the oven and let them cool completely;
– slice them diagonally, to obtain biscuits about 1 cm thick. Put them back on a baking tray and bake again at 160 ° for 10 minutes;
– now turn each cookie over and continue cooking for the same amount of time;
– take them out of the oven and allow them to cool before storing them into an air-tight container.
Varied doses for servings