Carquinyolis: you won’t be able to stop eating them!

Where does the word “biscotti” come from? How can you cook our little “Carquinyolis” to make them so crunchy and lean cut? Let’s find out!

Once you know how a carquinyoli is cooked, it all seems so easy! But how do you create this little bites of sweet biscotti? Let’s go to Italy to find out…

The word “biscotti” means “twice cooked” in italian. Although I really thought carquinyolis were a catalan recipe, appearently italians loved this sweet goody too! But here in Catalonia, we add a twist to the traditional italian biscotti: we add whole almonds, and it makes all the diference!

Ingredients:

1 egg (at room temperature)
100 grs of raw natural almonds with their peel
150-175 grs of flour
100 grs granulated white sugar
1 lemon’s zest and/or a pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 egg to brush
Water, or enough anise (the liquor), or red vermouth, and a pinch of salt to cover your almonds

The carquinyoli is just one of those things that you start having one little piece of it…. and you end up eating the whole package! Because they are so little, so innocent, so delicious, that you can’t have just one!

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 180ºC.
Place the almonds inside a bowl and cover with the water or liquor of your taste.
Let them soak while you prepare the dough.
In a big bowl whip the egg, sugar and zest until you get a smooth and nearly white texture.
In a different bowl, mix the flour and the baking powder, and add to the egg mix.
Combine well with a spatula and/or using your hands until you have a consistent dough.
Add the almonds (not the liquid) to the dough and work a bit more with your hands until there is no flour powder left.
If the dough is too sticky, wet your hands with water and make a log/s with the dough.
Beat second egg and brush the logs!

As we said, the catalan version of the biscotti involves whole almonds, cinnamon, and the dough is quite hard when you try to mix it, but it is definitely worth it!

And the key to its texture? to bake it twice! So put your dough in the oven, and put it out when you see it’s starting to golden… Then it’s time to cut the dough into the little carquinyolis, and then put them in the oven againg until they reach this nice and golden colour.