Baci di Dama

Two hazelnut domes joined with chocolate, baked flat-side down so they stay round.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 150 g ground hazelnuts
• 150 g plain flour
• 150 g cold butter, diced
• 130 g caster sugar
• 100 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Rub the butter into the flour, hazelnuts and sugar until it comes together as a dough. Do not add liquid: there is none in this and the butter is what binds it.
2. Wrap and chill it for an hour. Warm dough spreads in the oven and the domes come out as discs.
3. Roll pieces the size of a hazelnut and sit them well apart on a lined tray, pressing each one down only very slightly so it sits still.
4. Chill the tray another 20 minutes, then bake at 160C for 15 minutes. They should not colour beyond the palest gold.
5. Leave them on the tray until completely cold. Moved warm they break — there is no egg or gluten structure holding them together.
6. Melt the chocolate and put a small blob on the flat side of half of them, then press a second on. Leave them upside down until set so the chocolate does not run out of the join.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes