Today we want to delight you with another sweet recipe from Lucanian tradition: stozze, also known in other Italian regions as "cantucci" or other names.
These are dry almond biscuits that were traditionally made during holidays or weddings. It's no coincidence that in some towns in Basilicata they're also known as "viscuott della zit," which in Lucanian dialect means "bride."
Traditionally, stozze are dunked in wine, but they're also ideal with tea or served at breakfast.
Like all traditional recipes, there are several variations: ours is made with the fruity, mild extra virgin olive oil from Frantoio Oleario Pace.
Happy baking!
Stozze lucane recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg flour
- 10 eggs
- 10 tablespoons fruity, mild extra virgin olive oil
- 600-700 g sugar
- 600-700 g almonds
- 3 sachets of baking powder
- 2 coffee cups of liqueur of your choice (we chose anise and Strega)
Method
Toast the almonds in the oven for about 5 minutes at 120°C — they should brown but not become too dark.
Knead the flour and eggs, adding the sugar, oil, almonds, liqueurs and finally the baking powder. You can choose to knead by hand or with a stand mixer.
As soon as you have a compact mass, spread it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shape it into long, fairly wide loaves (stozze are longer than cantucci).
Bake at 160°C for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven, until the loaf is golden. Careful: don't cook it all the way through!
Take the pan out of the oven and cut your biscuit diagonally to form the individual stozze. Then bake again for another 5-7 minutes until fully golden.
Now your stozze are ready! All that's left is to let them cool and taste them right after dunking them in wine. We recommend trying them with our Aglianico Del Vulture DOC.
Enjoy!
