Christmas time is coming – as every year – with an intense gift trafficking and an amount of food that would be just enough to feed a football team for a year or so. I will be spending the festivities in Naples, mostly cherishing my idleness and dealing with arguing sisters (they argue at every blink of eye according to the best Italian tradition and family custom).

This year my little sister, who is the bright star of the family with her energetic mornings and a starting brilliant future as a Rugby player (!), promised to help me with the blog by cooking yummilicious recipes together. She must be thinking this blog is all kale and soups and needs a sweet twist.

Since last Christmas she was the author of this fantastic Swiss Nutella Roll, which hit the Reddit’s top 10 (a glory moment in my life), I will very much welcome her help in the kitchen.

To batten down the hatches, I should refrain from eating sweets and opt for a more discrete/light diet. This is the plan.

After all, the 12000 worth calories dinner is only a few days from now. This is the wise little voice in the back of my mind.

What do I do instead? I crave for biscuits and bake a chestnut-based version of the popular Tuscan biscotti called cantuccini. Down to earth, this is reality. Ah, temptations…

Cantuccini are a special type of biscotti, twice-baked cookies originating in the Italian city of Prato. These ones here are made with chestnut flour I bought in Tuscany. I can’t tell you how easy it was to make them. More than easy.

Uhm… well, maybe just a little less than “more than easy”. I had one (=1) difficult moment, to tell the truth, when I unexpectedly found my fingers glued to the dough in the attempt to shape it.

The dough is sticky, must be because chestnut flour absorbs water differently or because I kept it well wet; whatever the reason, you need to wet your hands in water before touching it. This should be just enough to help you avoid the glue effect.

I am almost done with Christmas gifts and social dinners in London. Another biscuit, a couple of special pralines I got from Denmark, a glass of warm Mulled wine and I am all set for Italy, ready to delve into its bright sky and its mess, so crazy yet so heart-warming.



How are you spending your Christmas holidays?

Print Recipe Chestnut Biscotti Ingredients 80 g of brown sugar I used coconut sugar

3 eggs

100 g of plain flour

250 g of chestnut flour

100 g of almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

2-3 tablespoons of whole milk Instructions Preheat oven to 180°C.

Whisk well the eggs into a large bowl with sugar.

Add the chestnut flour and the plain flour sifted with the baking powder, then stir in 2 or 3 tablespoons of whole milk (adjust to the right consistency) and the almonds.

Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and spoon the dough over the tray to form a flat loaf, about 5 cm large and 2 cm thick.

Bake for about 25 minutes, then remove them from the oven, cut them slantwise into 2 cm thick slices.

Arrange them a cut side down on the tray and bake them for other 5 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

Let them cool down on a wire rack before serving.