On my way to work in Rome, I used to stop at the same café every day for my morning cappuccino. The choice was partly habit, partly location, partly a judgement of the great coffee – but the main thing tugging me back was the delicious little biscuit which the barrista would (sometimes! Brilliantly, only sometimes) nestle onto the saucer, under the curve of the cup. I later learned that these heavenly rich and crumbly little treats are called ‘lady’s kisses’ – and they certainly had me coming back for more. In this recipe I’ve used our amazing chocolate fondant as the kiss that unites the two biscuit ‘lips’.
Ingredients for about 120 biscuits (60 baci)
Skinned hazelnuts – 100g/3.5oz
Ground almonds – 100g/3.5oz
Caster sugar – 65g/2.3oz
Plain flour – 165g/5.8oz
Salted butter – 175g softened/6.2oz
Nudo Chocolate Crema with Lemon olive oil – 1 jar
Preheat the oven to 180oC/350oC/GM4. If you can’t find skinned hazelnuts toast some unskinned ones and whilst they are still hot rub off the skins in a kitchen towel.
Grind the skinned hazelnuts in a blender and put them into a mixing bowl with the almonds, sugar and flour. Cut the softened butter into cubes and mix with your hands into the dry ingredients. Once it’s well mixed line a baking tray with parchment paper, take a small piece of dough and roll it into a 2cm diameter ball (a bit wider than a dime).
Press the ball onto the baking tray to make the bottom flat. Make sure you spread the balls well out on the tray as they will expand. Once you have a tray full (you should get about 120 of these little babies) pop them in the oven for about 15 mins or until they start to go golden.
Once they’re cooked, let them cool on a rack. Then you can start cementing two similar sized biscuits together with a decent dollop of chocolate crema. Any passing children will usually be happy to help.
Serve with coffee. These will keep for a couple of days in a sealed container.
Ingredients for about 16 biscuits
