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Cantuccioni (Oversized Soft Biscotti)

Lauren Volo

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED July 15, 2026

I spent a coffee-fueled morning looking for inspiration in the streets of Siena’s historic center, stopping in at every café and pasticceria I came across to down a shot of espresso and ogle and taste their selections of ricciarelli and other cookies.

At Panificio Il Magnifico I found an unexpected and delightful stand out: cantuccioni. The name means big cantucci, and these oversize sliced cookies do share some similarities with the famous crunchy twice-baked cantucci di Prato. But they are also entirely their own thing.

The sugar-coated cookies are first baked as small, fat loaves. Then they are cut into large, oblong slices, fitted back together, and packaged in cellophane bags tied with red raffia string. I bought a package, expecting something like classic crunchy coffeehouse biscotti. Instead, the cookies were soft, tender, and crumbly. I realized they had been baked just once, rather than twice like classic cantucci. They were so good dunked in cappuccino that I resolved to figure out how to make them at home. It took a few tries, but here they are.

By the way, these cookies make an artful holiday or hostess gift packaged in cellophane bags and tied with colorful string, the way Panificio Il Magnifico does it. – Domenica Marchetti

 

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Cantuccioni (Oversized Soft Biscotti)

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Makes 18 to 20 cookies 1x

Scale

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces (1 stick; 113 g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch (12-mm) cubes, at cool room temperature (65° F; 18° C)
  • 1 cup (200 g) sugar
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 tablespoon Punch Abruzzo, or dark or Jamaican rum
  • 2 3/4 cups (340 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

To finish

  • Flour for the work surface
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons pearl sugar or granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium, then high, until well incorporated and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Drop in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts and liqueur until thoroughly mixed in.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour this into the butter-and-sugar mixture and mix on low just until incorporated. Scrape the dough out onto a piece of reusable wrap or plastic wrap and pat it into a disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until fully chilled—at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350° F (180° C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and your hands. Divide the dough in half and shape each piece into an oval about 7 x 5 inches (18 x 13 cm), and 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Place the loaves on the baking sheet, taking care to leave at least 3 inches (8 cm) between them.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush this on the surface of both loaves. Sprinkle the loaves with pearl sugar or granulated sugar—or one of each. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until the loaves are golden and set, with cracks on the surface. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then transfer the loaves from the baking sheet to the rack to cool completely.
  5. With a sharp santoku or serrated knife, cut the loaves on the bias into 1-inch- (2 1/2-cm-) thick oblong slices. You should end up with 10 slices per loaf, including the ends. Store the cantuccioni in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. If you want to package them to give away, be sure they are completely cooled before fitting them into cellophane bags and tying with ribbon.

– Excerpted from Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region by Domenica Marchetti. Photos by Lauren Volo. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith Books.

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