Chocolate ‘Baci di dama’
Baci di Dama literally translate as ladies’ kisses, and that has to be because the 2 sides of these iconic Italian cookies, when joined together with chocolate, actually reseble the look of lips sending out kisses!
Direclty from Piedmont, these treats in their orginal form would have 2 almond cookies with a chocolate filling.
Absolutely delicious, the perfect bite-sized treat to have with coffee after a meal if you ask me
Chef’s tip: Serve the baci di dama strichly at room temperature but if you want to store it for longer than 3 days, please do it in sealed bags in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Serve – about 20/25 pieces // Prep time – 30 minutes // Cooking time – 15/18 minutes
Ingredients:
100 gr of grounded almonds
100 gr of plain flour
100 gr of unsalted butter
100 gr of sugar
A pinch of salt
The zest of 1/2 orange
About 150 gr of dark chocolate 55%
A splash of double cream (about 20/30 ml)
Method
To make the dough simply knead together the flour, the butter, sugar and grounded almonds, then add a little pinch of salt and the orange zest.
If you do not have a mixer you can do it by hands but be careful to do not heat the dough. As soon as the ingredients bind and the dough it’s form stop. Let it firm up a couple of minutes in the fridge if necessary then continue kneading until smooth. When ready wrap it in film and let it rest about 1 h in the frige to fully firm up.
Now, line a baking tray with parchment and with your hands grab pieces of dough and roll them into about 1 cm balls. As you form the little cookies place them on the parchment in a orderly manner keeping 2 cm distance from each other as they will grown when in the oven. Once all are ready, place the tray in the fridge for another hour to firm up again and pre-heat the oven to 160 C.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until fragrant and crispy. Let them cool completely and once cool store them with care in a airtight container or sealed bag.
To create the ganache slowly melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a double boiler. When melted mix in the cream and let it come to room temperature. Mix as it cools. Let the ganache cool and firm up into a pastry bag at room temperature. When cold the cream would help the chocolate not to firm up completely so it will still be pliable at room temperature. If you refrigerate it will harden.
Place a little dollop of chocolate ganache onto the flat side of half of the cookies than quickly top them with the other half, essentially joining them together and creating the baci di dama. Let the baci di dama firm up in the fridge for about 1h before serving at room temperature.
