Almond Cantucci

Preheat the oven to 170°C with conventional top and bottom heat. Line a large flat baking sheet, about 40 × 30 cm, with parchment paper. In a bowl, thoroughly mix all 250 g flour with the sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the measured orange zest and rub it into the dry mixture, breaking up any clumps.

Beat the eggs with a fork and pour them all into the bowl. Mix with a spoon, then briefly bring the dough together by hand, just until no dry flour remains. Add all the raw almonds and gently press them into the dough, gathering up any mixture left in the bowl. The dough should be cohesive, slightly sticky and hold the almonds. Do not knead it for long and do not add more flour; there is no need to toast the almonds either.

Divide all the dough into two equal portions. With cool hands, shape two logs on the parchment, each about 30 cm long, 4 cm wide and 2.5 cm high; you can use the edge of the paper to help. Place them parallel on the baking sheet, leaving at least 8 cm between them, as they will rise and spread a little. Smooth any larger cracks and press loose almonds into the dough. Do not dust the work surface or the logs with extra flour.

Place the sheet on the middle oven rack and bake for about 25–30 minutes. The logs should rise slightly, turn light golden on the surface and hold their shape. The center should be baked through, with no wet raw dough; a skewer inserted between the almonds may have dry crumbs on it, but not sticky dough. At this stage, do not try to make the cookies hard and completely dry.

Remove the baking sheet and leave the logs for about 10–15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C, still using conventional top and bottom heat. The logs should still be warm, but not too hot to handle. Do not leave them to cool completely: once cold and hard, they will crumble more easily when sliced.

Carefully transfer the warm logs to a cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut them on a slight diagonal into slices about 1.5 cm thick. Use a gentle sawing motion without pressing down into the dough, especially when the blade meets a whole almond. Support the log from the side, keeping your fingers clear of the blade. Slice both logs completely; you will have about 40 cookies, including the shorter end pieces.

Arrange all the slices and end pieces on the same large parchment-lined sheet, resting on one cut face, with small gaps of about 1 cm. Bake at 150°C for about 15–20 minutes, turning each slice onto its other cut face halfway through. They should become lightly golden and dry on both sides, but not darken. Remove thinner end pieces earlier if they are already golden. The cookies will firm up further as they cool, so do not dry them until rock-hard in the oven.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and leave them to cool completely, about 45 minutes. Only then judge their crunch: cantucci are dry and firm, with distinctly crunchy almonds. Serve about 4 cookies per portion, including the end pieces. Put any remaining cookies in an airtight container only when completely cold, so that steam does not soften their surface.