Baci di Dama or Lady’s Kisses are Italian buttery hazelnut cookies filled with a dollop of dark chocolate. An Italian specialty from Turin, from where the best hazelnuts are from. These will store well if kept in an airtight container or a gift in a fancy jar
Ingredients
150g ground hazelnuts or ground almonds
150g dark chocolate
150g plain flour
150g very cold unsalted butter cubed
150g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
METHOD
PREHEAT the oven to 150*C and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper
COMBINE in a food processor the cold butter, ground hazelnuts, vanilla extract, sugar and flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
REMOVE onto worktop and knead slightly until it just comes together to form a dough.
PLACE in the fridge to rest for half an hour.
ROLL out to about 1.5cm thick and use a small round cookie cutter to cut out equal quantity of dough.
ROLL these circles into perfect balls.
HOLD the balls shoulder height drop them down onto the worktop thus making a flat bottom on the ball.
PLACE these on the prepared trays flat bottom down and back in the fridge to chill for half hour.
BAKE in the middle of the oven and for 7 mins precisely. Do not be tempted to leave them in for longer. They should be very lightly baked and have held their shape. If they have started to spread they have been in too long !!!
REMOVE from the oven and leave to cool completely on the tray do not be tempted to touch them as they are extremely fragile. Once cool they harden enough to handle.
MELT the chocolate and leave to cool until it is the right consistency to spoon onto one half of the biscuit and leave to set a little longer before you sandwich the other half on top.
Ingredients
150g ground hazelnuts or ground almonds
150g dark chocolate
150g plain flour
150g very cold unsalted butter cubed
150g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
