Pelligrino Artusi's Biscotti (1891)

The first documented recipe for this sweet is found in a manuscript conserved in the Prato archives, written down by Amadio Baldanzi, a learned resident of Prato from the XVIII century, and in this document the cookies are called “genovese” (from Genoa).

This recipe was used again by the pastry maker, Antonio Mattei in the XIX century and since then has remained that which, becoming the definitive traditional recipe, distinguishes the original cookies from Prato from the numerous modern imitations. The dough is made exclusively of flour, sugar, eggs, almonds and pine nuts. The almonds are neither toasted nor skinned. No leavening or fat is used.

"568. Biscotti Croccanti I (Crunch Cookies I)

500 grams (about 1 pound) of flour
220 grams (about 7 3/4 ounces) of powdered sugar
120 grams (about 4 1/4 ounces) of whole sweet blanched almonds, mixed with some pine nuts
30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter
a pinch of aniseed
4 - 5 eggs
a pinch of salt

Leave aside the almonds and pine nuts to add later, and blend all the other ingredients with four eggs (you only ned to use the fifth egg if necessary) to make a rather soft dough.

Add the almonds and pine nuts, and then make four loaves of dough about as thick as a finger and as long as the palm of your hand; arrange them in a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour, and gild with egg yolk.

Do not bake the loaves too long, so that you can slice them. This is better done the next day, because the crust has time to soften. Put the slices back in the oven and toast lightly on both sides, and there you have your crunchy cookies."

---Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, Pelligrino Artusi, 1891 edition translated by Murtha Baca and Stephen Saratelli [Marsilio Publishers:New York] 1997 (p. 396)