biscotto

From the Latin biscoctus for 'twice cooked', biscotto originally referred to dry and crunchy biscuits meant to accompany dessert wines, such as the Tuscan biscotti di Prato, or cantuccini, made with almonds. Other regions have their own varieties, such as the pepatelli of Abruzzo, with almonds and pepper.

Lately, though, biscotti has also come to mean every sort of sweet biscuit or cookie. A biscotto, on the other hand, can also mean a cake, like a buccellato or a sweet bread.

biscotti di Ceglie Messapica (pesquett): made with Messapica cherry jam, ground almonds, lemon zest and citrus liqueur in Puglia are in the Slow Food Presidium.

biscotti Giolitti: invented in Dronero (Piedmont) in the mid 19th century by baker Giuseppe Galletti, made with almonds, butter, rum, Marsala and pepper baked into round crunchy biscuits. Italy's first prime minister Cavour took them to Rome, and renamed them after his friend, Giovanni Giolitti, the future prime minister. PAT