Baci di dama with corn flour

17/11/2023

Baci di Dama are a delicious dessert originating from Piedmont, in Italy. The classic recipe involves the use of almond and hazelnut flour, but we can make a variant using corn flour, which will give the cookies a special consistency and a rustic flavor. Here’s how to proceed:

Ingredients

100 g of fine corn flour
100 g of all-purpose flour
100 g of butter at room temperature
100 g of powdered sugar
50 g of finely chopped hazelnuts
1 pinch of salt
Dark chocolate as needed for the filling

Preparation

In a bowl, mix the corn flour with the all-purpose flour and chopped hazelnuts.
Add the butter in pieces and the powdered sugar, along with a pinch of salt.
Work the ingredients with your hands or with a food processor until a homogeneous and compact dough is obtained.
Shape the dough into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
Take the dough out of the fridge and, with your hands, form small spheres the size of a hazelnut.
Arrange the spheres on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving a little space between them.
Bake the cookies in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until they become slightly golden.
Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely.
Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler.
Once both the cookies and the chocolate are cool, spread some chocolate on the flat base of one cookie and join it with the base of another, forming the “kisses”.
Let the chocolate solidify before serving the Baci di Dama.

Curiosity

The name “Baci di Dama” refers to the shape of the cookies, which resemble two lips meeting in a kiss. It’s a very delicate sweet, perfect to accompany tea or coffee.

Tip: for an even closer version to the original from Piedmont, you could use only hazelnuts instead of corn flour and all-purpose flour, and proceed in the same way. Hazelnut is indeed the key ingredient of this sweet delicacy in the traditional recipe.