Baci di Dama translates into “lady kisses” and these little Italian cookies are aptly named. Comprised of two hazelnut or almond cookies held together with a bit of dark chocolate, they are as scrumptious as they are cute. For as adorable as they look, you may assume that they are complicated to make, but they are actually quite simple!
With a texture similar to a shortbread cookie and a strong nutty flavor, these cookies were made to hang out with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. They are just so adorable!! Lets get them started…
These cookies can be made with either hazelnuts or almonds. If you prefer to use hazelnuts, occasionally, you can find hazelnut flour, but you can also peel and grind your own in a food processor. Almond flour is typically found in the gluten-free section of the your local grocery store, but you can grind your own almonds as well. Making your own nut flour is an easy process and there are lots of great tutorials on YouTube that break down the process. Whichever process you use, you will need 240 grams of nut flour.
I highly suggest weighing the flour out, especially if you end up grinding your own nuts. 240 grams equals roughly 2 cups, but 2 cups can very by quite a bit and too much flour can make your cookies dry, but not enough will prevent them from holding their shape. The moral of the story is… weight your flour. Once you have 240 grams of nut flour, transfer it into the bowl of your stand mixer and add 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2/3 of a cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of cornstarch. Whisk all of the dry ingredients together and attach the paddle attachment to your stand mixer.
You will only need two more ingredients to bring this cookie dough together: 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 10 tablespoons of cold butter cut into small cubes. The easiest way to cube butter is to toss it in the freezer for 10 minutes and then use a long sharp knife to cut the stick in half longwise, flip it over and cut it in half longwise on the other side. You should have four long cubes now. Now cut slices off shortwise and you should have four small cubes per slice. Add all of your cubed butter and the vanilla extract into the dry ingredients and begin mixing at medium speed.
At first, it won’t look like it will actually come together, but as the butter begins to incorporate, you will see the flour start to darken and then all of a sudden, the butter will disappear and you will have a dough that feels like wet sand. It takes a while, so give it some time.
Once the dough comes together, scoop out about 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it in your hands to form uniformly shaped balls. Place the dough onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Once all of the dough has been shaped, place the baking sheets into the refrigerator for 2 hours.
After they are chilled, bake them for about 18 minutes at 325 degrees on a middle rack. If you used hazelnuts, the tops of your cookies will be slightly browned when they are finished, but if you used almond flour, the dough will be lighter and they don’t seem to brown on top. If you touch them, they should feel set when they are ready to come out.
Transfer them onto a cool rack as soon as they are cool enough to handle and allow them to cool fully before adding the filling.
To make the filling, melt 1/2 cup of dark chocolate morsels and stir in 1/2 teaspoon of espresso powder until smooth. Add a small dollop of melted chocolate (about 1/2 teaspoon) onto the underside of a fully cooled cookie. Find a second cookie that closely matches the size of the first and press them together.
Return the little sandwiches to the cooling rack and place them into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes or until the chocolate sets up. Aren’t they adorable?? You can make them small enough for one bite by cutting the dough in half initially, but these are more of a several bite size. I actually twist mine apart like an oreo and eat each half separately… one half plain and one half with a sweet layer of rich chocolate. However you decide to enjoy these little treats, I am quite positive that you will love them.
Baci di Dama
Ingredients
- 240 grams hazelnut or almond flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons butter, cold, cubed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels
- 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
Instructions
- Whisk together 240 grams of hazelnut or almond flour, 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 4 tablespoons of cornstarch in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Using the paddle attachment, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and incorporate 10 tablespoons of cold, cubed butter, until a wet sandy textured dough forms and you no longer see chunks of butter
- Form 1 tablespoon balls of dough and place them onto parchment lined baking sheets
- Refrigerate the shaped dough for 2 hours
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- Bake chilled dough for about 18 minutes
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack until fully cooled
- Melt 1/2 cup of dark chocolate morsels and stir in 1/2 teaspoon of espresso powder until smooth
- Dollop 1/2 teaspoon of meted chocolate in between two matched fully cooled cookies
- Chill the sandwiches until the chocolate is set
