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.