Baci di dama
The name means lady's kisses — two small hazelnut domes joined by chocolate like lips. They come from Tortona in Piedmont, a region famous for its hazelnuts. They are short and melt in the mouth thanks to near-equal weights of nuts, butter, sugar and flour. The key is perfectly even balls — the halves must match, so they are weighed to the gram.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Toasting the nuts 15 min
- Dough 15 min
- Chilling 60 min
- Weighing and shaping 15 min
- Baking 30 min
- Cooling 30 min
- Sandwiching 15 min
- Setting the chocolate 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneToast and skin the hazelnuts
Toast the nuts 10 minutes at 170°C, wrap them hot in a cloth and rub until the skins come off. The skins are bitter and leave dark specks in the dough. Cool the nuts completely.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
In a cloth while hot — the skins come away.Grind the nuts with sugar
Pulse the nuts with the sugar in a processor to fine but dry sand. The sugar stops the nuts releasing oil — without it they soon turn to paste and the dough goes greasy.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Add flour and cold butter
Add the flour, salt, vanilla and cold diced butter and pulse until the dough begins to clump. Bring it together briefly by hand. Warm butter makes cookies that spread on the tray.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Chill the dough an hour
Wrap in film and chill an hour. A dough this rich in butter and nuts is soft; chilled, it rolls into perfectly round balls that keep their domed shape in the oven.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Weigh the balls to the gram
Pinch off the dough and weigh pieces of 8 g, then roll them into balls. It sounds pedantic, but the two halves must match — uneven pairs look sloppy and sandwich crookedly.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Eight grams each — the halves must match.Chill the balls, then bake
Set the balls on a tray and chill 15 minutes, then bake 13–15 minutes at 160°C, until the bases are faintly golden. Chilled balls keep their dome; warm ones spread into discs.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Cool completely
Cool the cookies on the tray until completely cold. They are very fragile warm. Sort them into pairs by size — even weighed, they rise slightly differently in the oven.
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts · 120 g plain flour · 100 g butter · 90 g sugar · 1 pinch salt · ½ tsp vanilla extract
Sandwich in pairs with chocolate
Melt the chocolate and cool it slightly until it thickens. Put a drop of chocolate on the flat side of one cookie and press on another, lightly. Leave an hour for the chocolate to set.
Ingredients: 70 g dark chocolate
A drop of thick chocolate and a second half — a kiss.
Before you start
Piedmontese hazelnuts
Nocciola Piemonte IGP are hazelnuts with a sweet, buttery flavour and easily removed skins, grown mainly in the Langhe. Any good, fresh hazelnuts give a fine result if well toasted.
The almond version
In Tortona itself the traditional baci di dama are also made with almonds — paler and more delicate. The proportions are identical. Piedmontese pastry shops sell both side by side.
Two weeks in a tin
Baci di dama keep two weeks in an airtight tin somewhere cool. Do not refrigerate — the chocolate blooms grey. They make a perfect gift, as they hold their shape.
