Hello There! Today we are traveling all the way to my home region of Piedmont, Italy.
As a proud Piemontese, it is only right I talk about one of our treasures: Baci di Dama Lady’s Kisses in Italian).
These are my favorite cookies ever: whenever I tell my Dad that I’m visiting, he makes sure to call my favorite bakery to order 500g of Baci di Dama for my friends and I.
I have also shared my love for these cookies with my non-Piemontesi friends as the Baci are not always known by other Italians due to the strong regionalism of Italian cuisine.
These cookies are originally from the city of Tortona, Piedmont.
The traditional recipe calls for hazelnuts, one of Piedmont’s most valuable exports, but over time, due to the price of the nuts, they have slowly been replaced, partially or completely, by almonds. Personally, like mine to have a dash of almonds in them.
These are perfect at all times: breakfast, coffee break, tea break, lunch, dinner… or at least this is what I tell myself to justify my 24-hour snacking xD.
Well, without further ado, here’s the recipe.
Bon Appétit!
Baci di Dama, Italian Hazelnut Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: Italian30
servings30
minutes30
minutes45
minutesIngredients
125g Hazelnuts
25g Almonds
80g Dusting sugar
100g Flour
100g Butter (cold)
50g dark Chocolate
Directions
- Preheat oven at 180°C.
- Spread the almonds and hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast for 10 minutes.
- Let it cool completely.
- Grind the almonds and the hazelnut. Pulse from time to time instead of grinding all at once: the nut flour should stay dry, no oil.
- Let it rest and cool for 5 minutes in the mixing bowl.
- Add in the sifted flour, sugar and cold butter cut into pieces. Do not overmix.
- Scoop small amounts of dough and form 1 cm balls (= 6-7 grams) and place them on baking tray lined with parchment paper. Leave enough space between each ball.
- Transfer the tray to the freezer for 45 minutes (or 2 hours in the refrigerator): the balls must be hard and cold when they go into the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 150°C.
- Cook the balls at 150 ° for 10 minutes, then lower to 120 ° and cook for another 7 minutes.
- Take out of the oven and let cool down completely.
- Add the chocolate cut into pieces to a bowl and melt in the microwave.
- Take one piece of dough, add a small amount of melted chocolate, then fold over another piece of dough.
- Repeat until every ball is filled with chocolate.