Plant-based Italian-style chocolate cookies (Baci di Dama-inspired) // A grandchild in my kitchen

Plant-based Italian-style chocolate cookies (Baci di Dama-inspired) // A grandchild in my kitchen

🌱🌰🍪🇮🇹 Grandma Sita learns with Simone how to bake delicious Italian-style small dome-shaped cookies made of almonds or hazelnuts joined together with dark chocolate. Their texture is both crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth tender which makes it so hard to stop at just one! This yummy plant-based recipe is inspired by the popular “Baci di Dama” (literally translates to lady’s kisses) which are classic cookies originally from Piedmont in Italy. 

🧓🏻🤎 Grandma Sita’s tip: Shape the cookies by using a small ice cream scoop, or just pinch away about 2 teaspoons of dough, then roll them into a ball and place them on a baking sheet about 1.5 inches apart. 

➡️ Baci di dama originate from the town of Tortona in the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. Baci di dama are a sandwich cookie, consisting of two hazelnut cookies joined together by chocolate, representing the “kiss” in the name. Considered a standard of Italian confectionery, these are a common item at Italian bakeries throughout Italy and in Italian diaspora communities. Though traditionally made with hazelnut cookies, there are currently many modern flavor variations. The most common variations are made with almonds, pistachios, and cocoa in place of hazelnuts.

🤗🌎 Grandma Sita looks forward to the weekends because that’s the time she invites a grandchild into her kitchen to cook popular dishes from their countries and together get inspired to twist them into delicious new plant-based meals. Sustainability tastes great everywhere!

INGREDIENTS

150g all-purpose flour
150g granulated sugar
150g unsalted cold plant-based butter/margarine
150g whole almonds (alternatively any nuts)
100g dark chocolate for the filling

METHOD

1. Arrange the almonds on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 2. Toast them till lightly golden at 180° C for about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer the toasted almonds, along with half the granulated sugar, to a bowl.
4. Grind them at full speed but in pulses, to get a fine, homogeneous flour.
5. Transfer the almond flour to the bowl. Then add the flour, cold cubed plant-based butter, and the remaining sugar.
6. Knead the mixture until the dough is smooth. Form a loaf and cover it in plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and, with your hands, form small round balls about 1 cm in diameter.
8. Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with baking paper about 2 cm apart.
9. Bake the cookies till golden not brown in a preheated oven at 170° C for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
10. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler. Let it cool a little, not too liquid but firm enough.
11. With a teaspoon, scoop out a small amount of chocolate and lay it on top of a cookie, on the flat side.
12. Stack another cookie on top and let the chocolate solidify, which serves as a “glue” between the two cookies.
they are a sweet treat for any time of the day.
13. Yummy cookies are ready and Bon appetite!


DID YOU KNOW?

Baci di dama were created in the 19th Century as a way to utilize hazelnuts that are local to the Piedmont region. Baci di dama have been classified as a traditional, protected Piedmontese product.



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