Tuscan dinners most often end with a plate of almond-studded cantuccini accompanied by the local dessert wine, vin santo (perhaps homemade), poured into small tumblers, with much dunking, drinking, eating and lingering. It’s the quintessential element that rounds off any meal, whether it is shared among new or old friends at home or offered by friendly and generous trattoria hosts.
In Tuscany they are known as cantuccini – often named after Florence’s neighbour and the city of their invention, Prato – but they are better known as biscotti (the general Italian word for ‘biscuits’) in the English-speaking world. The word biscotti comes from the fact that these biscuits are twice (‘bis’) cooked (‘cotto’), a technique that Pliny the Elder once said would make baked goods keep for centuries. They are first shaped into a sort of flat log, baked, then cut into slices and baked again. The double baking makes them durable, crunchy and perfect for dipping into vin santo or coffee.