Hazelnut Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (Baci di Dama)

I’m a really lazy cook. If I’m going to make dinner, I want the easiest recipe possible. The fewer the ingredients and lighter the prep, the better.

But baking…well, that’s a different story. I am game to make whatever looks delicious, even if that means dozens of ingredients or dozens of steps.

Take these Baci di Dama. Baci di Dama are hazelnut sandwich cookies with a rich chocolate ganache filling. The steps are pretty simple… but there are a lot of steps! You have to toast hazelnuts, make dough, make a filling, assemble. But I promise the effort is worth it. The cookies are near-crumbly in texture, with a wonderful nutty flavor. When you chomp down you get a satisfying bite of hazelnut, complemented by the smooth ganache.

I stumbled on this recipe when I was looking for something to bring to a birthday party. I’d asked my friend to name her top 5 flavors, and hazelnut made the cut. I love hazelnut, but I’d only ever baked with it in Nutella form. Clearly I’ve been missing out! I loved how these turned out, and am glad I gave them a try.

I’d do a couple small tweaks if I baked these again. First off: I’d use bittersweet or dark chocolate for the filling rather than semisweet. It tasted good, but I think a stronger chocolate would boost the flavor. And second: I ground my hazelnuts for just a tad too long, so I basically ended up with hazelnut butter. I was a little nervous about whether my dough would turn out ok! It did, but still…I’d try to do it right next time 🙂  

Original recipe: As Easy As Apple Pie. I’ve rewritten things a bit and added commentary. 

Yield: ~20, but your yield will depend on how big you make the cookies

Suggested equipment: Food processor, mixer

Total Time: ~3 hours, but that involves a lot of waiting for things to chill!

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For your dough:

• 2/3 cups hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
• 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3.5 ounces unsalted butter cut into small cubes, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

For the filling:

• 1/3 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped into bits

Directions

Prep your hazelnuts

1. Throw your hazelnuts onto a baking sheet
2. Toast the hazelnuts at 320F until they’re a golden brown color. This took me around 15 minutes. Pay close attention, because you don’t want burned nuts!
3. Take your hazelnuts out of the oven, and rub them until the skins come off. This might take a bit of elbow grease!
4. Let the hazelnuts cool completely before moving onto your next step

Make your cookie dough

1. Put the cooled hazelnuts into your food processor, and pulse the processor until the nuts resemble sand. This is where I messed up, and my nuts ended up more like a butter consistency. Don’t be like me 🙂
2. Move the hazelnuts to a bowl, and mix in your flour, butter and sugar. You want to mix the ingredients until the butter is evenly dispersed throughout the bowl of dough, and your dough is smooth
3. Divide your dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a log
4. Place the logs on a baking sheet, and stick it in your fridge
5. Chill the dough for an hour

Make your dough balls

1. Take one dough log out of the fridge, but leave the rest in the fridge until you’re ready to use them so they stay cold
2. Cut equal-sized pieces from your log, and roll them into tiny balls between the palms of your hands. Since these are sandwich cookies, it’s important to keep your sizing consistent! The original recipe writer suggested making your balls about 8 oz of dough each
3. Place your dough balls on a greased or lined cookie sheet, then move onto the next log of dough
4. Put your dough balls back in the fridge for another hour

Bake your cookies 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 320F
2. Bake your dough balls for 15-20 minutes. Take them out when they’re set to the touch, and a light golden color. Mine took closer to 20 minutes
3. Let the cookies cool completely before you fill them

Fill your cookies 

1. Melt your chocolate until it’s smooth
2. Place a dollop of chocolate on one cookie, and place another cookie on top. Press the two together, and you have a sandwich!
3. Let the cookies firm up on a cooling rack for a bit so your chocolate sets

And finally: ENJOY! These will last in an airtight cotnainer for about a week, but I doubt they’ll make it that long!