Rachel Roddy's recipe for tozzetti, AKA dipping biscuits with chocolate chips and orange

Tozzetti are irregular, rounded diminutives of tozzo, originally cupboard biscuits from central Italy, especially Lazio around Tuscia Viterbo, with roots in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were created to use simple, easily available ingredients such as flour, eggs, sugar or honey, and dried fruit. The dough should be slightly sticky but firm enough to shape into small ciabatta-like loaves, adding flour cautiously or using flour-dusted hands. Baking requires two stages: first baking the loaf, then baking slices after cutting. This drying step produces a firm but crumbly texture and helps the biscuits keep for a couple of weeks in a sealed container. Orange juice and zest are used to adapt quantities and flavor.

"Tozzetti are found in central Italy, particularly in Lazio, with its epicentre in the Tuscia Viterbo area, as well as in Umbria and Abruzzo; and that they originated between the 18th and 19th centuries as cupboard biscuits, designed to use simple, easily available ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar (or honey, which gives a chewier texture) and dried fruit."

"The dough, while slightly sticky, should be firm enough to shape into loaves (the form is rather like small ciabatta), so you may need to add a little more flour (cautiously) or simply work with flour-dusted hands on a well-floured work surface."

"As Simona notes, baking them twice first as a loaf, then in slices isn't a technical whim, but a necessity. It dries the dough and ensures two things: a firm but crumbly texture, and that they live up to the name cupboard biscuits and last a couple of weeks in the right container (a glass box with a Tupperware lid or a sealed tin lined with baking paper are both ideal)."

"I have adjusted her tozzetti quantities slightly, to take into account the addition of orange juice as well as the orange zest she suggests. The following recipe makes 28-32 tozzetti if you are going for a Janet form, but will make as many as 50 if you opt for a Danny sha"

Read at www.theguardian.com