'Antonia' gift box

Hatbox with an assortment of Biscottificio Mattei products and Antinori wines

• Description

  'Antonia' hatbox offers the richest selection of Biscottificio Antonio Mattei products: the Prato Biscuits (also called 'Cantuccio' or 'Cantuccino' with Almonds) and the subsequent varieties of the Biscuit with Dark Chocolate, Pistacchio and Almonds and ones with Piedmont Hazelnuts; all the specialties exclusively produced in the biscuit factory plus a selection of dessert wines.
  Contains a 17.5 oz packet of Prato Biscuits, a 17.5 oz packet of Dark Chocolate Biscuits, a 17.5 oz packet of Pistacchio and Almond Biscuits, a 17.5 oz packet of IGP Piemonte Hazelnut Biscuits, a packet of Brutti Buoni (17.5 oz), a medium size Mantovana cake (21 oz), a Large Candied Cherry Loaf (35 oz), a 500 ml bottle of Santa Cristina Antinori Vinsanto, and a 750 ml bottle of Prunotto Moscato d'Asti.
  
  Prato Biscuits are prepared with 5 simple ingredients: flour, sugar, free-range eggs, almonds and pine nuts, they do not contain preservatives, animal fats or vegetable fats.
  The Dark Chocolate biscuits and the ones with Pistacchios and Almonds or Hazelunts are made with the same ingredients as the Prato biscuits (flour, sugar, free-range eggs) but instead of almonds and pine nuts, fine dark chocolate (85 % cocoa), pistacchios and almonds or hazelnuts are added.
  
  The Brutti Buoni 'Ugly but Good' are biscuits based on chopped almonds, sugar, free-range egg whites.
  They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and have always been part of the historic desserts of our biscuit factory.
  The broken almonds and the egg white rest and melt for a few hours, before meeting the other ingredients (flour and sugar), become Brutti Buoni and go in the oven.
  
  Mantovana is a soft and fragrant Butter-based cake, with fresh free-range eggs, flour and sugar, is covered with almond grains. It does not contain yeast.
  Just like a homemade cake, it is best enjoyed within the first days of production and in any case within the recommended dates.
  
  Filone Candito is a cake made with flaky breadcrumbs, a thin layer of apricot jam and candied cherries; all rolled up and garnished with almond paste and icing sugar, dusted before cooking.
  In fact, the sugar cooks and caramelises, forming a crunchy crust which together with the chopped almonds gives a consistency pleasantly in contrast with the soft dough and cherries.
  
  The Antinori Santa Cristina Vinsanto is intense yellow with amber highlights, the wine shows aromas of toasted hazelnuts, honey, and apricots along with light notes of citrus fruit.
  Full-bodied on the palate with honeyed and nutty flavors, it is a long and supple wine with an intense finish of chestnut flour and herbs.
  
  The Prunotto Moscati d'Asti is pale yellow color.
  At nose the aroma binds with notes of acacia honey and hawthorn.
  In the mouth: full, dense, vigorous and elegant, with a final balanced, fresh and pleasant.

• History

  Since 1858 Prato Biscuits have been baked daily and hand-packed one by one, in the classic Blu Mattei bag.
  
  The Dark Chocolate Biscuits came out of our oven for the first time in 2013, these are also hand-packed one by one, originally in a red bag, but since 2019 in the Blu Mattei bag with a Red label.
  
  In 2017 the Mattei family added the new Pistachio and Almond flavor.
  
  In 2019 a new, even more delicious biscuit was created! It is the variety with the prestigious Piemonte IGP Hazelnuts: a trilobate hazelnut, with a particular weight and toasting flavor, carefully selected for the traditional dough of our Biscuits.
  
  The Brutti Buoni have been present in our Bottega since 1910 or there abouts ... thanks to the 'know-how' of the aunt Italia Ciampolini.
  In fact, they were created from the need to reuse 'leftover' ingredients from other recipes: broken almonds, because in Prato biscuits we only use whole almonds, and the egg white that is a 'leftover' from the Mantovana Cake recipe, which requires more yolks than egg whites.
  
  In 1875 two nuns from Mantua, during a pilgrimage to Rome, were hosted by Antonio Mattei: to thank him for the hospitality, they gifted him the recipe for the Mantovana cake which takes its name from their city.
  Antonio Mattei made his own version of this recipe, the one still on sale in our stores, and also celebrated by Pellegrino Artusi in his famous 1891 book 'Science in the kitchen with the art of eating well'.
  
  The recipe for the "rich" Candied Cherry Loaf was devised by Ernesto Pandolfini around the 1930s; the candied cherries assorted inside the dough were green, white and red, in honor of the Italian flag.
  
  The first vintage of Santa Cristina Vinsanto was produced in 1946 by Marquis Niccolò Antinori.
  The Antinori family has been dedicated to wine production for more than six hundred years: since 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori became part of the "Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri", the Florentine Winemaker's Guild.
  
  In 1904, in the council chamber of the municipality of Serralunga, in the presence of the Notary Giacomo Oddero and the young witness Alfredo Prunotto, the Cantina Sociale "Ai Vini delle Langhe" was founded.
  In 1989, the Antinori family began its collaboration with the Prunotto company, initially dealing with distribution only. In 1994, with the withdrawal of the Colla brothers, the Antinori family started production too, maintaining the excellent quality level strongly desired by Alfredo Prunotto.

• Sizes
  Diameter

  35 cm

  Height

  31 cm
• Notes

  Weight 286 oz with external shipping packaging.
  The box contains fresh biscuits, without preservatives, like the homemade ones; we recommend you to enjoy them within 12 days from production, the date is printed on the label.