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Biscotti, more correctly known as biscotti di Prato (biscuits of Prato), also known as cantuccini (corners), are a twice-baked cake originating in the Italian city of Prato. The cakes are large almond biscuits, made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven.

Following rediscovery of the original recipe by Prato-based pastry chef Antonio Mattei in the nineteenth century, his variation is what is now accepted as the traditional Biscotti recipe. Mattei brought his cakes to the Universal Exhibition of Paris of 1867, winning a special mention.

The mixture is composed exclusively of flour, sugar, eggs, pine nuts; and almonds that are not roasted or skinned. The traditional recipe uses no form of yeast or fat (maple syrup, Dominican rum, water). The barely-wet dough is then cooked twice: once in slab form, and after cutting in sliced form, with the second baking defining how hard the biscotti are.

Source: wikipedia.org
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