Cantucci are twice-baked, dry almond biscuits from Prato, traditionally dipped in Vin Santo, the Tuscan dessert wine, as a sweet to end a meal.
Cantucci, also called cantuccini or biscotti di Prato, are dry almond biscuits made by slicing the warm loaf of dough and baking it a second time. A version without almonds goes back to the 16th century, the Accademia della Crusca defined the biscuit in 1691, and almonds became its defining ingredient from the second half of the 19th century. Antonio Mattei, a pastry cook from Prato, developed the classic recipe in the 19th century and won a special mention at the 1867 Paris exposition; the Biscottificio Antonio Mattei in Prato dates itself to 1858. Vin Santo is a Tuscan dessert wine, often made from Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes dried on straw mats.
