three - Baci di Dama

Baci di dama are the prettiest little cookies ever. They are not really Christmas cookies though, nor can you find them on our family's cookie plate.
No, wait, since I've introduced them to my family, you can. Because everyone loves them so much. They look like little jewels, consist of hazelnuts, chocolate, butter and not much else, and they're delicious.

I got to know them in Turin, Italy, where they are an important part of the little trays of pasticceria secca you buy and bring to someone's house if they've invited you over for coffee. I love to look at the wonderful cookies on display in every pasticceria, and if you buy them, a mix of different cookies is arranged on these little golden cardboard trays, and then wrapped in wonderfully old-fashioned paper like a gift.

Baci di dama are not the sort of cookie you make in an eyeblink. The dough is delicate and can be a bit dry, and you form at least 80 little balls out of it. Of which you then glue together pairs with melted chocolate. It takes a while but it is so worth it.

Recipe (inspired by David Lebovitz. makes about 40-45 cookies)

140 grams hazelnuts
140 grams rice flour (I used wholemeal)
100 grams butter at room temperature
80 grams sugar
a pinch of salt
60 grams of chocolate


First, toast your hazelnuts spread out on a baking tray at 160º C for about 12 minutes. When they've cooled a bit, rub them between your hands (put them in a clean tea towel if they're too hot) to get the skins off. Let cool completely.
Grind the hazelnuts with some of the sugar to a fine powder.
Combine nuts, flour, sugar and salt in a big bowl, then add the butter cut into small pieces. Mix with your hands to obtain a dough. If it's too dry, add some drops of water (just wet your hands).
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and make three logs with a 2 cm diameter. Try to avoid cracks in the dough (add more water if necessary).
Refrigerate them for at least two hours, covered with clingfilm.

To bake the cookies, heat your oven to 160°C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take the logs out of the fridge (one at a time) and begin to to cut them into pieces which you form into little balls with your hands. They should be the size of marbles.
Place them on your baking sheets and bake them for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets once. Let the cookies cool completely on the trays.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot (not boiling) water and spoon little dollops of it on the bottoms of the cookies, sandwiching each together with a second one.

Leave them on a cooling rack or parchment paper and store in an airtight container once the chocolate is firm.

They keep for a week.