These cantuccini are my proposal this year to give to the cabbage teachers, to co-workers or to leave Christmas Eve to our guests to remember us on the morning of Christmas Day

You know I love making homemade gifts at Christmas. Time is the most precious thing you have today and combining time with cooking seems to me the perfect gift idea.

They are very easy to prepare cookies and have such a rich flavor that they are addictive. You can replace nuts and chocolate. Eliminate or replace them with what you like the most and thus make this recipe of yours.

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 185 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon and a half of pure vanilla extract
• 150 g butter in pieces (see note)
• 550 g flour
• 1 teaspoon and a half of baking powder
• 200 g pistachios and almonds
• 160 g dark chocolate chips (see note)
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of cardamom

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.

We grease a baking tray (I use grease spray)

Sift the flour and yeast and set aside.

In a bowl of electric mixer beat with rods the eggs with sugar, vanilla and spices until they are sparkling, have doubled the volume and are pale (about 6 minutes at medium-high speed).

Change to the shovel and add the butter little by little beating all the time with the shovel at medium-low speed.

Now add half of the flour. we will see how the dough becomes smoother and loos pieces of butter are completely integrated.

We put the rest of the flour mixture on the work surface and spread it with our hands. Turn the dough on top and wrap the dough little by little with the flour kneading gently until the flour has been completely absorbed and the dough is no longer sticky (if necessary we can add a little more flour).

When we have a smooth dough, we extend it slightly with our hands forming a rectangle. Put in the center the pistachios, almonds and chocolate and wrap the ingredients with the dough folding the ends of the dough to the inside. At first it will seem that we have put too many nuts and chocolate but when we finish kneading they will be completely integrated.

Divide the dough into two pieces and with each one we form a cylinder and crush slightly with your hand to flatten them a little. Place them on the greased tray we had prepared and bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until the edges are slightly golden.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and lower the temperature to 175 degrees.

Place the biscuits on a wooden board and with a sharp saw knife, cut diagonal slices about one cm thick. Put them on a baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 more minutes until they are completely crispy. After 5 minutes we remove them from the tray and put them on a rack until they are completely cold

Tips and Tricks

• Butter should be neither too cold nor too soft. I take it out of the fridge when I prepare the ingredients and unless it is summer it is at the ideal temperature at the time of adding it.
• You can replace chocolate with dried blueberries dried cherries, raisins, plums, orejones. I don't like fruit so I've replaced it with chocolate
• You can use white chocolate instead of dark chocolate if you prefer
• In a herm container
• If we store loos in an airtight container or in a can they will hold well for a couple of weeks
• They freeze very well
• Preparation time: 50 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Servings: About 30 cookies