Damini Kisses (Baci di Dama Cookies)

It is said that “Damini kisses” were created when Victor Emmanuel II, on a fall evening in 1852, desired to try something new and asked his chef to prepare something sweet. The chef had almonds, hazelnuts, butter, chocolate, and sugar at his disposal. With these ingredients, he prepared excellent cookies that have since always been present on the buffet tables in Italy. Damini kisses consist of two cookies that look like they are kissing, joined together by melted chocolate or hazelnut chocolate spread. These cookies are a great idea for a wonderful gift and are best served with a cup of strong black coffee.

Details

  • Preparation Time: 160 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 25 minutes
  • Difficulty: 1
  • Spiciness: 0
  • Number of Servings: 10

Ingredients

  • 100 g Nuts, hazelnuts, blanched

  • 100 g Nuts, almonds

  • 100 g Sugar, white

  • 100 g Flour, Wheat, bread flour

  • 100 g Butter, unsalted

  • 10 teaspoon Chocolate spread, with hazelnuts

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking tray and place them in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.

  2. Let the roasted hazelnuts cool for 2-3 minutes, then transfer them to an electric grinder or food processor and grind them finely. Place the ground hazelnuts in a bowl and mix them with flour, sugar, and ground almonds.

  3. Add softened butter to the ingredients in the bowl. Quickly knead everything together by hand to form a uniform dough. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

  4. Turn the oven back on and set it to 160 degrees Celsius. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and pinch off a small piece (weighing about 8 grams), quickly roll it between your palms, and shape it into a ball, about the size of half a walnut.

  5. Place the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Gently press them down to flatten the bottom. Leave a few centimeters of space between each ball, as the cookies will spread slightly while baking.

  6. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Once baked, transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

  7. Finally, we just need to glue the cookies together. Use hazelnut chocolate spread (you can find a recipe for homemade spread), which you can pipe onto the bottom of the cookies using a decorating bag or help yourself with a spoon.

Nutrition Information (Per 100g)

  • Calories: 533.92 kcal
  • Fat: 38.04 g
    • Saturated Fat: 11.76 g
  • Carbohydrates: 42.16 g
    • Sugars: 21.57 g
  • Protein: 8.82 g
  • Fiber: 4.9 g

Advice

The ingredients are enough for approximately 20 cookies. Instead of hazelnut chocolate spread, you can use melted chocolate to glue the cookies together.