Directions
Baci di Dama is among the tastiest biscuits in Italy due to the combination of fragrant shortcrust pastry with hazelnuts and chocolate filling.
They are biscuits born in Tortona, Piedmont, thanks to the combination of two great Piedmontese ingredients: hazelnuts and chocolate.
They were called Baci di Dama because the two hemispheres that meet in a chocolate riot are reminiscent of the lips of a sweet lady in love.
But poetry aside, Lady’s Finger biscuits remain one of the most representative desserts of Italian gastronomy, comparable to Tuscan cantucci.
So, here is the definitive recipe for making the perfect Baci di Dama!
Ingredients of Piedmontese Baci di Dama
For making 20 Lady’s Kisses
- 160 grams of flour or stone-ground
- 170 grams of hazelnuts
- 100 grams of butter
- 120 grams of sugar
- 80 grams of dark chocolate
- 4 grams of salt
How to prepare the perfect Baci di Dama
With a nutcracker shell, all the hazelnuts, place them on a baking sheet, covered with paper, and toast them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.
Put the hazelnuts in the mixer and reduce them to powder. It must be flour, not chunks.
Put the flour, the hazelnuts, the butter, and the sugar in a bowl and mix, mixing all the ingredients, as if you were making shortbread or shortcrust pastry.
Wrap the hazelnut shortcrust pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for a couple of hours.
Remove the pastry from the refrigerator, make many strips and cut it into small pieces. In all, they must be 40 for 20 Baci di Dama.
Let’s say that the size should be 2 cm per side, approximately like gnocchi, 10 grams for each ball.
If you want a more empirical measure, close your thumb and forefinger, as if to make the OK gesture, and calculate that each Bacio di Dama must have that diameter.
Before leaving, place the parchment paper on a baking sheet and heat the oven to 160 degrees.
When you are ready, knead the shortcrust pastry and form 80 balls. Put them on the ball and press lightly to flatten the bottom.
Bake the cookies for 20 minutes, remove them from the oven and wait for them to cool.
Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a saucepan in a bain-marie, calmly and with a piece of butter, stirring with a wooden spoon.
When the cookies are cold, take them two by two and dip them in chocolate, then let them kiss passionately, but be precise, then put them on a plate and wait for the chocolate to set, thus sealing the cookies with his kiss.
And here, you have also made the Baci di Dama. They are just shortbread biscuits with hazelnuts and melted chocolate, but is there something more irresistible? To prepare cocoa Baci di dama, add 40 grams of cocoa powder to the dough.
Which wine to pair with Baci di Dama?
We stay in Piedmont to uncork a very fragrant and seductive sweet wine like Moscato from the Marcarini winery. If you want to combine fortified wines and more structured and alcoholic spirits such as sweet vermouth, Port wine, Marsala, Madeira wine, Sherry, Brandy, Cognac and Calvados, do it, these delicious biscuits have the right consistency to withstand the bump of strong beverages.
If you want to combine a cocktail, serve them with a hot Irish Coffee.
