Small but Perfectly Formed

Baci di Dama
I had intended September to be all about biscuits ever since a friend at work told me that it was National Biscuit Month. Well, that clearly hasn't happened since we are now a third of the way through this very month and it is only now that I am posting a biscuit recipe. This month is actually an American celebration, and their biscuits are more like our scones, rather than the snack that you might dunk into your tea (or not). However, a small matter of  how a word is interpreted, or geography, makes no difference to me if it means I can bake.
I don't make biscuits that often, other than at Christmas (when I make a LOT) but I really wanted to bring you the most delicious, melt in the mouth, hazelnutty morsels, Baci di Dama, or, 'Ladies Kisses'. These biscuits are traditional to the Piedmont area in the northwest of Italy and are so named because the two halves are like lips kissing. The beauty of these is that they use very few ingredients - butter, sugar, flour, chocolate and hazelnuts - to make something truly special.

I think you all know by now about my love affair with almonds in a cake. Well, hazelnuts have the same effect on me in a biscuit. They have such a sweet, buttery flavour which works brilliantly with so many different other flavours such as chocolate, apples, raspberries and coffee, and that flavour and scent only deepens upon heating. 

Toasting and grinding whole nuts creates an infinitely superior product to pre-ground and when a biscuit uses so few ingredients, every one needs to count.
These biscuits are fairly simple to make if a little time consuming but don't let that put you off, as the results are worth it. Every step is there for a reason, so please don't be tempted to deviate from the method. The butter and dough have to be cold and the oven cool as it is this what ensures the balls sink into the characteristic domes to be sandwiched together. Dark chocolate is usually used for the filling, but since I had a great big jar of chocolate and hazelnut spread in the cupboard I used that instead, and it was perfect.

 For the biscuits
(adapted from food52.com)

100g whole hazelnuts, shelled and blanched

100g cold unsalted butter, cubed

100g caster sugar (I used my favourite golden caster sugar)

100g plain flour, sifted

For the filling

100g dark chocolate (melted and cooled), or 4tbsp of chocolate hazelnut spread

This recipe makes about 20 - 25 biscuits

1. Start by preparing the hazelnuts. Put them in a dry frying pan over a low heat and toast  
until they turn golden brown and start releasing their oils and fragrance, about 5 minutes. I would recommend that you stir the nuts while toasting to encourage even browning and
avoid burning, which can easily happen if you don't keep a careful eye on them.

2. Leave the hazelnuts to cool completely, place in a food processor and blitz until they are 
very finely ground.

3. Put the ground hazelnuts into a bowl with the sugar and flour and give it a stir to combine. Add the cubed butter and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 

4. Press the mixture together until you have a dough. You should find that it comes together very easily, and requires virtually no kneading. 

5. Wrap the dough in foil and put in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight. 

6. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls. Place them onto baking trays lined with baking parchment, a couple of centimetres apart, and return to the fridge for a further couple of hours. 

7. Preheat the oven to 150C, and bake the biscuits for 15 minutes until the balls have become domes. They should be pale in colour. 

8. Take the biscuits out of the oven and leave to cool completely on the baking trays so they become firm enough to handle.

9. To assemble the biscuits, using a teaspoon place a small amount of chocolate or spread on the flat side of one biscuit, and then top with another biscuit to make a sandwich.

10. Keep in an airtight tin for 4 - 5 days. If they last that long.

Hallo Autumn.....

Bavarian Plum Tart (Zwetschgen Datschi)

....and goodbye summer. See you next year.

 

Autumn is probably my favourite season of the year. Not just because I am an Autumn baby, but also because I love the change in the light in the morning, the change in the colours of leaves on the trees, and layering up in cosy sweaters and scarves. And of course, it means that, (dare I say it), Christmas is not so far away.

With a new season brings seasonal produce to inspire my baking. Of course, you can buy most fruits and vegetables virtually all year round, but I much prefer to use them when they are truly in season. I like that it makes then certain cakes and bakes rather special as they can be seen as a representation of that season on a plate.

The one bake that absolutely signifies early Autumn to me is the delicious and very traditional Bavarian plum tart, known in Bavarian dialect as Zwetschgen Datschi.

Simply speaking, this tart is made from a yeast dough or sweet pastry, pressed thinly onto a baking sheet, covered with stoned and sliced plums and sprinkled generously with cinnamon sugar. When the plums cook the skin colour runs red and deepens and just looks so pretty.

Whenever I have visited Bavaria at this time of year, it is always what I have chosen from the bakery to have with my afternoon tea. What makes it so special is that the particular variety of plum used is only in season for a very short time. They are oval as opposed to round and have a very dark purple skin. I haven't seen them here in the UK, but while researching an equivalent, the Damson plum was suggested. However, I am not a patient sort and don't always have the time nor inclination to go a-hunting a specific ingredient when the same result can be achieved with an alternative. Therefore, I have used the darkest skinned plum that I could find for this tart. I would say though not to use the Victoria variety. Not because they are not delicious, and they are, but because their skins are not dark enough to give the colour that is so specific to this tart.

The recipe comes courtesy of my Grandmother, and I hope I have done it justice. She uses  the sweet pastry option for her version, for which I am thankful. Pastry I can make. Yeast dough is for me is......a little more of a challenge.

I hope that you give this a try and find it as delicious I do, and please, serve it with whipped cream. It is an absolute must. Lighter than double cream, it just works beautifully with this tart, and is how my Grandmother always enjoyed it.
 

 

 For the Pastry

300g plain flour, sifted

100g golden caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

150g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 large egg, beaten

For the Filling

500g dark skinned plums

1 tbsp demerara sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

I used a 9" loose bottomed square flan tin, greased, but you could just as easily use a swiss roll tin if that is what you have available.

1. Make the pastry by putting the sifted flour, caster sugar and baking powder into a bowl and stirring until combined. Add the butter and using your fingertips rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Make a well in the centre, add the egg and stir using a fork until the mixture starts to come together. Using your hands, press it into a dough. 

3. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in foil and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to rest.

4. Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to come back to room temperature.

5. Put the dough into the centre of the prepared flan tin and press it down using your hands so it evenly covers the base and sides of the tin. Put the tin in the fridge while you prepare the plums.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

7. Cut each plum in half, remove the stone and then cut each half into 4 and so that each plum gives you 8 segments.

8. Lay the plum segments lengthways across the pastry base in rows until all they all are used up.

9. Mix together the Demerara sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle liberally over the plums.

10. Put the tart into the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the fruit is cooked and the pastry is golden brown.

11. Cool in the tin before removing the tart. 
 

Baking Notes

If you want to make the pastry ahead of time then you can, as I did. I made the pastry the day before I made the tart and put it in the fridge. The next day I took it out and brought it back to room temperature before using it, which caused it no harm at all. You could also make the pastry in a food processor if you prefer. Just put the dry ingredients into the processor bowl, and the butter and whizz them altogether until you have the requisite fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and pulse until a dough just starts to form. Then take it out and continue with the method from step 2.