Ladies’ kisses, the real ones from Tortona, are so delicious that one always wants more, hence their name. Whatever the story behind it they are so delectable that it is impossible to have just one, two or three.
Baci di dama consist of two little round nutty biscuits sandwiched together with dark chocolate. They may be made with plain or roasted nuts there will be a marked difference in flavour. The traditional recipe calls for almonds, but I prefer them with hazelnuts. The quantities below make a lot of biscuits. They keep well – so why not?
Ingredients
- 250 g almonds /hazelnuts plain or toasted
- 250 g icing sugar
- 250 g unsalted butter, very, very soft and a little extra to add to the mixture if too dry
- a little lemon zest
- pinch of salt
- 250 g 0f soft cake flour
- 100 g dark chocolate melted
Method
Place the nuts of your choice and the icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and whizz it all up to quite a fine powder.
Cream the butter with the zest, salt and the nut mixture. Gently fold in the flour and then pat into a neat ball. Break off tiny pieces and roll to the size of a small cherry. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly to roll add a little soft butter. Place on trays lined with non-stick greaseproof paper. Bake for 15 minutes but check after 10. Biscuits made with roasted nuts will be darker. Place on a rack to cool and sandwich them with a little melted and cooled chocolate. If you make lots do not sandwich them all at once. They store better without the filling.
Copyright Carla Tomasi
