🍪♻️ What if the leftovers in your kitchen could become something truly delicious? Homemade biscuits and cookies are a wonderful way to make the most of ingredients you already have in your cupboard, from leftover mixed nuts and chocolate to the last spoonful of jam. Grandma Sita loves turning these little leftovers into something everyone can enjoy — saving food, avoiding unnecessary trips to the shops and creating delicious homemade treats along the way.
🌱🇮🇹 Simone joined A Grandchild in My Kitchen, Grandma Sita’s cooking challenge, and shared a special family recipe for Italian-style sandwich cookies. These little biscuits bring back a classic childhood cooking memory: simple ingredients, a fun recipe to make together and a delicious result that is always worth sharing.
😋 This vegan recipe is inspired by the much-loved Italian Baci di Dama, or “lady’s kisses”. These traditional sandwich cookies originated in Piedmont in northern Italy and are made by joining two small, crisp biscuits together with chocolate. Grandma Sita’s version puts a delicious zero-waste twist on the idea, using a mixture of leftover nuts and chocolate to create beautifully golden cookies with a delicate, melt-in-the-mouth texture.
🌰🍫 The best part? You can make these cookies your own. Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or a mixture of nuts can all bring their own flavour and texture, making this a wonderfully flexible recipe for using what you already have at home.
💚 So, before you reach for the shopping list, have a look in your cupboards. You might already have everything you need to bake a batch of these delicious Baci di Dama-inspired cookies — a little creativity, a few leftovers and plenty of Grandma Sita love! 🍪🌱
INGREDIENTS
150 g plain flour
150 g unrefined fine sugar
150 g unsalted vegan butter, cold
150 g mixed leftover nuts, such as almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts
100 g leftover chocolate
METHOD
1. Toast the nuts. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread the raw mixed nuts on a baking tray and toast for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Keep an eye on them so they do not become too dark.
2. Grind the nuts. Allow the nuts to cool slightly, then add them to a food processor with half of the unrefined sugar. Blitz at high speed until finely ground and the mixture resembles a fine nut flour.
3. Prepare the dough. Cut the cold vegan butter into small cubes. Add it to a large bowl along with the plain flour, the remaining sugar and the ground nut mixture.
4. Knead and chill. Knead the ingredients until you have a smooth dough. Shape it into a log, wrap it well and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
5. Shape the cookies. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into small balls, approximately 1 cm in diameter. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C.
6. Bake. Arrange the dough balls on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2 cm between each one. Bake until the cookies are lightly golden — they should be golden rather than brown.
7. Cool and melt the chocolate. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate gently in a bain-marie.
8. Add the chocolate. Once the cookies are completely cool, use a teaspoon to place a small amount of melted chocolate on the flat side of one cookie. Use just enough chocolate to hold the two halves together.
9. Make the little kisses. Place another cookie on top, flat side facing the chocolate, and gently press the two together.
10. Allow to set. Carefully place each finished sandwich cookie on a plate or cooling rack and leave until the chocolate has set and holds the cookies together.
11. Repeat and enjoy! Continue until all the cookies have been sandwiched together. Then sit back, enjoy a little taste of Italy and savour these delicious Baci di Dama-inspired cookies — the Grandma Sita way!
👵🤎 Grandma Sita’s tips
- 🌰 Use the nuts you have: Traditional Baci di Dama are closely associated with hazelnuts, but this recipe is a wonderful opportunity to use a mixture of nuts. Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or other leftover unsalted nuts can all work beautifully. Have fun experimenting with the flavours you already have in your cupboard.
- 🍪 Keep the cookies small: These little sandwich cookies are traditionally delicate, so try to keep the dough balls small and similar in size. This will help them bake evenly and makes it easier to find two halves that fit together perfectly.
- ❄️ Don’t skip the chilling time: Chilling the dough for at least two hours helps it firm up before shaping and baking. It also makes the dough easier to handle when forming the little cookie balls.
- 🍫 Let the cookies cool completely: Make sure the biscuits are completely cool before adding the melted chocolate. If they are still warm, the chocolate can become too runny and make the sandwich cookies harder to assemble.
- ♻️ Save your leftover chocolate: This recipe is perfect for using up chocolate that is already open in your cupboard. Dark, milk or dairy-free chocolate can be used, depending on what you have available and the flavour you prefer.
- 🫙 Store them carefully: Once the chocolate has completely set, keep the cookies in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. This will help protect their delicate texture and keep them delicious for longer.
- 🌰 Enjoy nuts as part of a balanced diet: Unsalted nuts such as almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts provide fibre, protein and unsaturated fats. A small handful of nuts is a simple and nutritious snack — just remember that nuts are energy-dense, so moderation is key.
📗 Did you know?
🇮🇹 The name Baci di Dama means “lady’s kisses” in Italian. These charming little biscuits are made from two small halves joined together with chocolate, giving them the appearance of two little kisses meeting in the middle. The biscuits are strongly associated with Tortona in Piedmont, in northern Italy.
🌰🍫 Hazelnuts have a special place in Piedmontese confectionery. The region is famous for its hazelnuts, which are used in many traditional sweets, including Baci di Dama and gianduja.
👵🌱 Grandma Sita’s version is inspired rather than traditional. Instead of following a single classic recipe, these vegan cookies make the most of a mixture of leftover nuts and chocolate. It is a delicious example of how traditional food ideas can inspire new recipes in a modern, plant-based kitchen.
🗑️ A little food-waste fact
🌰 Nuts are one of those ingredients that can easily be forgotten at the back of a cupboard. A half-empty packet of almonds, a few walnuts left from another recipe or the last handful of hazelnuts can all be given a delicious second life in baking.
🍫 The same goes for chocolate. Instead of waiting for small leftovers to be forgotten, turn them into something worth sharing. This recipe combines leftover nuts and chocolate into delicate sandwich cookies, showing how a little creativity can transform ingredients that might otherwise go unused.
♻️ Before throwing away a small amount of an ingredient, take a moment to think about how you could use it in another recipe. Leftover nuts can become biscuits, cakes, granola or homemade nut toppings, while chocolate can be melted into desserts, sauces or simply used to sandwich these delicious little cookies.
♻️ Give leftovers a delicious second life
🌎 For Grandma Sita, zero-waste cooking is about making the most of what we already have. It doesn’t have to mean complicated recipes or perfect planning — sometimes it simply means opening the cupboard, looking at what needs using and getting creative.
🍪 A few leftover nuts, some chocolate and a handful of simple ingredients can become something really special. These little Baci di Dama-inspired cookies are a reminder that wasting less can be delicious, creative and fun.
💚 Use what you have, share what you make and give good food a second chance. Less waste, more flavour — the Grandma Sita way!