Baci di Dama, or Lady's Kisses, cookies are absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day! Diminutive, crisp, and nutty Italian hazelnut cookies are sandwiched together with a kiss of bittersweet chocolate.
*this recipe was created for and sponsored by Imperial Sugar
Please don't confuse these with Ladies' FINGERS cookies (no, I didn't mean Lady Fingers).
I only learned about these cookies recently, and I knew they were a MUST for Valentine's Day. Who doesn't love a Valentine's cookie or chocolate? These are the best of both worlds!
How to make Baci di Dama Cookies
The cookies start with roasted hazelnuts. Here's a hint: hazelnuts go rancid easily, so if you buy your nuts in advance, pop them in the freezer until you're ready to make the cookies. They can go right from the freezer to the oven.
Once the hazelnuts are roasty and toasty, pour them into a dish towel and rub as much of the skins off as possible. Do not obsess about this. Those hazelnut skins are tough little boogers (not a word I typically use on a food blog), and you can drive yourself crazy. You'll blitz the nuts in a food processor, and the flecks of skin add color and interest.
The dough is very crumbly and therefore has a unique way of being formed into cookies. I tried this a few ways in recipe testing, and what do you know, the traditional way really is the best. The dough gets formed into ropes, wrapped in plastic wrap, and then chilled.
Working one portion at a time, the dough is sliced from the rope and rolled into small balls.
Because there are no leaveners or eggs in the dough, the cookies don't change shape much when baked.
Once cooled, they get sandwiched together with just a kiss of melted bittersweet chocolate. Y'all. That chocolate is MAGIC paired with the hazelnut cookies. Absolute magic!
The chocolate needs a bit to set up, then the cookies are ready for the cookie jar or to be packaged and given to friends.
I'm sharing the full recipe over on Imperial Sugar today!
Baci di Dama Cookies or Lady's Kisses Cookies - what will you call them?
If you love hazelnut, you'll want to check out these other hazelnut recipes from Bake at 350!
