Baci di Dama Recipe
Here is the traditional recipe for the Italian hazelnut cookies called baci di dama, or lady's kisses, which are tiny sandwich cookies you will fall in love with. They are so adorable, they look like they are straight from the Italian pastry shops! All you need to make this delicious recipe for our favorite Italian cookie is all purpose flour, butter, sugar and ground hazelnuts or almonds and then of course some melted chocolate for the filling.
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Servings: 25 cookie sandwiches
Calories: 175kcal
Ingredients
- 250 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 150 grams (10.71 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 1 (1) egg
- 150 grams (1.05 cups) whole almonds or whole hazelnuts
- 150 grams (1.25 cups) powdered sugar
- 1 pinch (1 pinch) salt
- 150 grams (0.83 cups) dark chocolate chips or squares for the filling
Equipment
- baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- pastry bag
- cooling rack
- Food processor
Instructions
- Toast the whole almonds or hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with baking paper in a preheated oven at 350° F / 180° C for about 10 minutes or until golden. Do not toast too long, they should not turn dark. Let them cool completely.
- Now place the cooled almonds or hazelnuts with the powdered sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until finely ground, you should obtain a ground hazelnut meal consistency. Let it cool for a few minutes, leaving it in the processor.
- Add the flour and cold cubed butter straight from the fridge. Mix on high for a minute and then add the egg and mix again. The dough should be soft and a little sticky.
- Form a large ball with the dough, move it to a plastic container with a cover and put in the freezer for at least one hour, or until it is very hard.
- Remove the hard, cold dough from the freezer. Break off a small chunk of dough to form a 0.5 in / 1-cm little ball. Roll it in your hands to make it as round as possible. As you make the balls, place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper at a distance of 3 cm from each other. When they are all done, transfer the sheet to the freezer for at least one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 300° F / 150°C. Take the cookies straight from the freezer and put them into the oven. Bake on 300° F / 150° C for the first 5 minutes. Then turn down to 250° F / 120° C and bake for another 5 minutes. And finally, turn down to 210° F / 100° C and bake for the last time for 5-7 minutes. The cookies should be golden but not browned when they are done baking.
- Remove from the oven and carefully use a thin, flat spatula to remove from the baking sheet and onto a flat surface lined with baking paper. Remove the dome shaped cookies one by one, being very careful not to deform or deflate them, then leave them to cool completely.
- While the cookies cool, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler stirring occasionally, until completely melted and then let cool slightly.
- When the cookies are completely cool, put the warm (but not hot!) chocolate into a pastry bag with a large tip. Squeeze a large dollop onto the flat part of one cookie, then lightly press the flat part of another cookie on top, creating a kiss.
- Place them onto a clean baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let the chocolate cool completely so that they don't get dirty with chocolate from the other cookies. Serve when cooled completely!
Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 11mg | Potassium: 93mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 161IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg
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