Iron Chef Shellie
 

Baci Di Dama

I finally made time to do some baking. It’s been a few weeks since I brought together the power of butter, sugar and flour to create something sweet and scrumptious. I bought the Gourmet Traveller chocolate cookbook from a bargain book store for $6 a while ago, back when I went trekking for my first...

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Baci Di Dama
September 17, 2009
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Baci Di Dama

I finally made time to do some baking. It’s been a few weeks since I brought together the power of butter, sugar and flour to create something sweet and scrumptious. I bought the Gourmet Traveller chocolate cookbook from a bargain book store for $6 a while ago, back when I went trekking for my first real souvlaki. The recipe for these cookies in the book pretty much sold me; chocolate + hazelnuts = awesome.

My biscuits look TOTALLY different to the picture in the book. The picture in the book shows nice little dainty, chic café looking bites, and mine turned out like chocolate ripples with a chocolaty centre. I followed the recipe to a tee, and I even rolled smaller sized balls than the dictated 1 tablespoon measurement, and I still ended up with morbidly obese looking cookies! Alas, they tasted very nice so it didn’t matter.

I was expecting more of a melt in your mouth kind of sensation when biting into these, but they were just like any other cookie, and didn’t really have that melting effect. I would make them again though, a classic combination that has never let me down.

Baci Di Dama

250g unsalted butter, softened
110g icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
105g hazelnuts, roasted, peeled and finely ground

Filling:
125g dark chocolate, chopped
30g unsalted butter
75g hazelnuts, roasted, peeled and finely ground

1. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, then add vanilla.

2. Stir together flour and cocoa and stir into butter mixture with ground hazelnuts until mixutre is well combined.

3. Take heaped tablespoons of the mixture and using your hands, roll into balls, then place on baking paper-lined oven trays and flatten slightly with your fingers.

4. Refrigerate biscuits for 2 hours or overnight, then bake at 180°C / 160°C fan-forced for 15 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make the filling; melt chocolate and butter in a small heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, then remove from heat, add ground hazelnuts and stir to combine well. Spread a little filling onto half of the cooled biscuits, then top with remining biscuits. Leave in a cool place for filling to set.

Filled biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Makes about 60, but ingredients can be halved to make fewer biscuits.

 
Voila! Bon Appétit!

Comments

12 comments on “Baci Di Dama
  1. penny aka jeroxie

    Nice and simple to make. Looks gooey too!

    September 17, 2009 at 2:16 pm
  2. Rilsta

    Ooh, chocolate hazelnut cookies filled with chocolate hazelnut filling – what's not to like?! 🙂

    When you say you were hoping for the melt in the mouth sensation, I think you may have mistaken them for macarons! Hehe!

    September 17, 2009 at 2:49 pm
  3. SARAH

    yum! they may not have looked like the picture in the book but they still look very delicious!

    September 17, 2009 at 4:41 pm
  4. Conor @ HoldtheBeef

    Morbidly obese cookies sound just fine to me. I love the nice cracked look 🙂

    September 18, 2009 at 12:03 pm
  5. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    How strange that they didn't turn out like the picture! Although they do look very good. I like the "power of butter, sugar and flour". Amen to that!

    September 18, 2009 at 9:10 pm
  6. Iron Chef Shellie

    Hi Penny aka Jeroxie – Thanks! They were delicious =D

    Hi Rilsta – Oh I know, it's just like the best combination!
    lol, not macarons, I expecting a yoyo/melting moment type texture =)

    Hi Sarah – Thank you! They most certainly were.

    Hi Conor – Haha! I liked the cracked look too =)

    Hi Lorraine – Yeah, I was a little disappointed. Amen sister!

    September 20, 2009 at 7:34 am
  7. Kiranjeet

    Totally agree with you Shell – Chocolate & Hazelnut go together like B1 & B2. They look deliciously good. I was just wondering, did they have a similar texture and consistency to macaroons? Well done Shelly xx

    September 20, 2009 at 12:21 pm
  8. Maria@TheGourmetChallenge

    they look like they would be nice and chewy, but I guess not. Maybe the power of butter, sugar and butter was a little off that day 😛

    September 21, 2009 at 1:47 pm
  9. A cupcake or two

    Even though they didnt look like the picture they still look very tasty..

    September 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm
  10. A Girl Called E

    These look delicious, even if they weren't as expected.
    I might give them a whirl myself!

    September 22, 2009 at 1:53 pm
  11. Iron Chef Shellie

    Hi Kiranjeet – Ha! Like B1 & B2 indeed. Not similar to macarons at all =(

    Hi Maria – Yes, the power of butter, flour and sugar must not have been aligned with the stars.. however they were still delicious!

    Hi A Cupcake or Two – They most certainly were =)

    Hi A Girl Called E – I was still happy eating them, even though they weren't what I was expecting 😉 Let us know how you go!

    September 23, 2009 at 9:54 am
  12. Katya

    Oh yum. I was thinking today that I wanted to make some biscuits but wanted to try something different and this is perfect. Thanks so much for posting.

    September 23, 2009 at 7:20 pm
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Shellie Froidevaux

All content on this site is by Shellie Froidevaux - aka Iron Chef Shellie. Her skills include recipe development, food styling in her kitchen studio, lifestyle and travel photography, restaurant photography on location, styling and shooting social media for her clients and photography workshops for people who really want to change their game :)

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