Italian Cookies (Baci di Dama)
Italian Cookies (Baci di Dama) are made with two melt-in-your-mouth hazelnut cookies held together with some good dark chocolate. Italian cookies would make an excellent addition to the Christmas cookie platter!
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Hi guys! Marina from Let the Baking Begin blog here! I hope these Italian Cookies will become part of your holiday traditions. They’re so good!
Italian Cookies Recipe (Baci di Dama)
Originating in the northwest region of Italy, these Italian Cookies are filled with tons of roasted hazelnuts. Combined with the dark chocolate, they remind me of Nutella (or this Ferrero Rocher Cake). Their texture is both crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth tender which makes it so hard to stop at just one!
The Italian Cookies are perfect to serve next to a hot cup of strong coffee or espresso in the morning, or as an afternoon treat. The name, Baci di Dama, means “lady’s kisses” since the two halves of the cookies resemble two lips that come together for a kiss.
The secret to Perfect Italian Cookies:
One of the most important things which ensure proper shape and texture of the Italian cookies is to use well-chilled butter. Then, once the cookies are shaped the dough must be chilled once again to prevent melting or spreading in the oven, as well as cracking. The rest of the process is smooth sailing!
Ingredients for the Italian Cookies
- This recipe can be made with both hazelnut and/or almond flour/meal, depending on your preference. Using store-bought hazelnut or almond flour will give a more tender resulting Italian cookie, so feel free to replace whole hazelnuts with the same amount of hazelnut or almond flour (by weight, 240g). I prefer the cookies with little pieces of hazelnuts still felt throughout the cookie though. For this, I pulse the hazelnuts in a food processor or a coffee grinder until mostly flour-like.
- Use only well chilled, unsalted butter for this recipe.
- Scroll to the bottom of the recipe card for the gluten-free version.
How to make the Italian Cookies (Baci di Dama)
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Add the cubed butter, vanilla extract and beat with a mixer until a dough forms.
- Shape the Italian Cookies by using a small ice cream scoop, or just pinch away about 2 teaspoons of dough, then roll into a ball and place on a baking sheet about 1.5 inches apart. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
- Then, preheat the oven to 325 degrees with the baking rack in the middle. Bake the cookies for about 17-18 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- In a microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate chips by heating it in 10-15 second intervals, stirring occasionally, until melted.
- Sandwich two cookie halves with about 1 tsp of chocolate and allow to set for about 30 minutes before serving.
How to Roast and Peel Hazelnuts:
If you aren’t able to find peeled hazelnuts, they peel easily after roasting. The best way to roast hazelnuts is to spread them on a baking sheet and bake @ 325F for about 12-15 minutes, tossing often. Start checking on them from around 10 minutes and remove them when they’re to the desired doneness.
To peel the hazelnuts: remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a ziplock bag and rub them from the outside to remove the skins. Now shake the bag until all skins fall to the bottom. Remove the nuts from the bag leaving the skins behind.
More Christmas Cookies to Try:
- Almond Snowball Cookies – these are melt-in-your-mouth good!
- Cranberry Bliss Bars – not a cookie, but definitely a must for holidays!
- Russian Tea Cakes – crumbly, buttery and irresistible
- Oreshki (Walnut-Shaped) Cookies – traditional Russian cookies
Italian Cookies - Baci di Dama
Ingredients
Italian Cookie Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnuts, roasted, skinned (2 cups = 240g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 oz cold unsalted butter, cut to small pieces
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Baci di Dama Chocolate Filling
Instructions
How to Make Italian Cookies
- Line 2 baking sheet pans with parchment paper, set aside. Pulse the hazelnuts in a food processor or a coffee grinder until mostly flour-like with some pieces that still retain texture.
- In a large mixer bowl whisk together ground hazelnuts, flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add the cold cubed butter, vanilla extract and mix until a dough forms with no visible butter chunks.
- Using a small ice cream scoop, portion the dough into about 2 teaspoon chunks, then roll each one into a ball. You'll get about 40 dough balls. Set Italian cookies onto the prepared baking sheet about 1.5 inches apart. Slightly tap on top of each hazelnut cookie ball to flatten. See *recipe notes* for how to shape and bake smaller sized cookies.
- Chill cookies in the fridge for 1 hour. About 45 minutes into it, preheat the oven to 325 degrees with the baking rack in the middle. Bake cookies for about 17 to 18 minutes, or until just starting to brown on top. Remove from oven and cool completely.
How to Assemble Italian Cookies
- In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips in 10 to 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally until the chocolate chips have melted half way (about 2 minutes). Then, continue stirring until the rest of them have melted completely.
- Spread 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate onto the bottom half of the cookies. Cover with the other half and press to adhere. Allow to sit undisturbed until the chocolate has set, about 30 minutes.
Notes
To Make Gluten Free Italian Cookies:
Replace the all-purpose flour (1 cup) and the cornstarch (4 Tbsp) with the same amount of rice flour (1 cup 4 tbsp).Whole Hazelnut Substitution:
Start out with 2 cups of whole hazelnuts and grind them yourself, or replace whole hazelnuts with the same amount by weight (240 g) of hazelnut or even almond flour.To make smaller Baci di Dama:
Cut the dough into 8 pieces and refrigerate. Remove one piece of dough from the fridge and roll it out to about 10-inch long rope, next cut it into about 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a marble sized ball. Reduce baking time to about 10 minutes. Fill with only about 1/2 a tsp or less of chocolate.Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Aside from being amazingly good any time of the year, these Italian Cookies are always a hit at holiday cookie exchanges or cookie platters.
What is your favorite holiday cookie?
Marina | Let the Baking Begin!
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Silly question, but for the chocolate filling, could i just substitute nutella? I suppose other than freezing it, there wouldn’t be a way to stiffen the nutella, which is why you’re using chocolate chips? I just think the chocolate hazelnut flavour would work better. Has anyone tried it this way?
Hi Jade! I think that would be fine to use Nutella instead.
Have you tried making this using vegan butter? Will it work?
I have not, so I am not sure how it would turn out. If you experiment, I would love to know the results.
I think the amount of butter in the recipe is incorrect. I believe it needs to be doubled. I added a full stick of butter and the cookies are still dry. I will double
butter next time. But the flavor is outstanding
Hi Esther, 1 stick of butter = 8 Tbsp or 4 oz. The recipe calls for 5 oz of butter which is 1 1/4 sticks of butter so it does sound like you were short on some butter if only using 1 stick. A good way to double check is to click on the metric button in the recipe card and you will see gram measurements. 1 stick of butter is also 113 grams and this recipe calls for 141 grams of butter.
Can I freeze these cookies without the filling and fill them after they thaw out? Will the taste ot texture be affected?
I haven’t tried doing it that way to advise.
When you say 40 cookies, is that 40 whole cookies or 20? I only want to start off with maybe 20 to see how they come out so should I halve the recipe?
Hi Lori, you may click serving in the recipe card to half and adjust the recipe and ingredients.
Hi Lori, they are 20 sandwich cookies and 40 halves. Thank you for asking. I will clarify in the recipe.
Finding a good baci dama recipe is so hard! I always try new recipes with no luck and this recipe was just like all the others. Several of my cookies melted. The smaller versions took way longer than 10 min to cook. I wish there was a simple way to make these because they’re my favorite!
HI Cooper, I’m not sure why it would ‘melt’ unless there was something happening with how the ingredients were measured. Check out our post on how to measure ingredients for baking which may help.
These cookies are fantastic morsels of Italy bundled into a tiny cookie. Delicious! For technique, I used a method I found elsewhere that allowed for more uniformity. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment. Press processed dough evenly into pan, freeze for 10 min. Using a ruler, cut into 1” strips; turn and cut again. You end up with 64 (32 cookies) squares to roll into uniform little balls, which makes them easy to pair. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
good idea, mine are baking now and using my smallest scoop they are larger and I won’t press them together with another cookie, just top with chocolate
Love your recipes but sometimes is frustrating converting from American cups or pounds in to Australian cups.Everything in grams would be much easier
Pleeeeeeees🙏🏻
Hi Maria, my new recipes have the feature so you can convert the ingredients to grams if you click Metrics.
I used almond flour using the weight suggested. Put 1 tsp almond extract and 1 tsp vanilla. My dough was also crumbly so I added additional butter til it looked like it would hold together. Probably about 12 tbs butter total. The balls never flattened at all so I tapped them flat when I removed from the oven. Have a nice almond flavour.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I had the same problem. Next time I’m going to use hazelnut flour so they have that brown look.
I’ very happy that you do collabs like this Natasha. Definitely going o try this. Happy Thanksgiving Natasha’s family and Marina.
Happy Thanksgiving!
im soon going use make the cookies but im trying to make a way out of it to make them soon my mom always needs my help and im going to make them today!
I hope you both love these cookies, Leah!
We did half almonds and half hazelnuts. We loved the cookies, but we are curious why the batch made with hazelnuts collapsed while baking. They were chilling for the same amount of time (1 hour) before baking.
Hi Maggie, I haven’t seen that happen but I wonder if it had to do with how finely the nuts were ground?
Hi Natasha, my brother and I tried the gluten free recipe and we absolutely LOVE IT. We couldn’t stop eating the cookies. Thank you so much for working so hard to come up with these recipes!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review! I know our readers will find this helpful!
Excellent cookies Natasha, they turned out to be very fragrant, I used homemade nutella for the filling, very tasty, thanks for the recipe
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
how much ml cup do you use?
Hi Anuradha, we use a liquid measure cup. Please see our post on measuring here for more help and details with ml and measuring.
Good afternoon. Want videos not recipes
Hello there. You can check out my YouTube channel too for the video tutorials
Hi Natasha
If using 1 to 1 gluten free flour do you still need to use the cornstarch??
Hi Cindy, I haven’t tested this with GF flour so I can’t say for sure how it would affect the recipe or if changes in corn starch would have to be made.
Hi Natasha
I can only find natural unpeeled hazelnuts. I’ll roast them but do they need to be peeled?
Thanks
Amina
Hi Amina, resharing the message from Marina on these: “The best way to roast hazelnuts is to spread them on a baking sheet and bake @ 325F for about 12-15 minutes, tossing often. I start checking on them from around 10 minutes and remove them when they’re to the desired doneness. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a ziplock bag and rub them from the outside to remove the skins. Now shake the bag until all skins fall to the bottom. Remove the nuts from the bag leaving the skins behind.”
Great recipe, I used almond and hazelnut meal together.
That sounds lovely! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Can i bake it in advance, like 1-2 days before? If so how to store them . Thank you
Hi Natallia, Since the filling is just pure chocolate, the cookies can be filled and stored at room temperature covered for up to about a week. They are best eaten fresh, within a couple of days though.
The storage time does not change regardless if they’re filled or not.
I have to override my previous comment, Natasha! I made these cookies second time, and they turned out delicious! I used orange extract instead of vanilla because orange flavor works great in combination with hazelnuts, and I used hazelnut spread for filling. It’s beautiful. I think they turned very dry last time because I didn’t use enough butter ( 5 oz is 10 tbsps not 5! ) I believe I wasn’t the first person to make this mistake… 😉😄
I’m so happy that worked well for you, Yelena! Thank you for the updated and wonderful review!
Can i use almond flour instead of hazelnut flour?
Hi Viktoriya, yes! There are notes on this substitution in the recipe above. I hope you love these Italian cookies!
Best cookies ever! Made these for the first time this year and they quickly disappeared. Looks like I’m going to have to add them to the traditional Christmas cookie list. And I think I’m going to have to make another batch sooner than for Christmas 2019 — like maybe as a special request for someone’s birthday dinner! My only challenge is finding hazelnuts. Have to make a special trip to Trader Joe’s for them, because they are not readily found in local supermarkets. Never mind, the trip is well worth it. Thank you, Natasha, for sharing this recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful review!!
My dough was crumbling. Is that ok?
Hi Nikki, I haven’t experienced that, at which point was it crumbling? after baking? Did you make any changes to the recipe?
This is the perfect treat for the holidays.
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for this wonderful cookie recipe. I was wondering if you could also post a recipe for Christmas butter cookies to make cutout cookies.
Thank you!! Happy Holidays!
Hi Suzy, we have several recipes here that you may enjoy. 🙂
Hi Natasha, thanks for posting this recipe. Just want to ask the equivalent of 5oz of butter in tablespoons.
I appreciate your response,
Nikki
Hi Nikki, one stick of butter is 4 ounces. Those 4 ounces are divided into 8 tablespoons. Based on that, 5 ounces would equal ten tablespoons. I hope this helps.
Hi Natasha! Just want to say thank you for this awesome recipe. They just melt in the mouth, they are great cookies for the holidays! My family loves them!
Hi Olya, I’m so glad to hear that your family loved these Italian cookies!! Thank you for sharing your awesome review 🙂
Soooo… good,
Thank you for sharing recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
I made these cookies. Followed recipe to the tee. Used roasted skinned hazelnuts from Costco. These cookies came up perfect shape wise but they are too crunchy. Next day they got even harder. Nobody cared for these cookies in my family including me. 😔
Hi Yelena, I’m sorry to hear that – it could be due to overbaking which can dry them out. Not all ovens are created equal and some will heat stronger. Also, make sure you are using the regular bake mode and not “convection” which will cook them faster.
It is still confusing in substituting almond flour. For a cup of regular flour in the recipe, how many cups of almond/hazelnut flour (not hazelnuts)?…
Hi Natalya, this recipe is intended to have some all-purpose flour in it which you can sub with rice flour to make them gluten free, but if subbing for almond flour, you would use the same amount by weight which is 240 grams.
Gluten free :
Corn starch should be fine. I’d suggest a 1 to 1 GF flour mix or a GF flour mixture vs rice flour.
Thank you for that suggestion!
Hi, Natasha. Do you think I could just use a hazelnut spread such as nutella for the center in place of the chocolate?
Hi Anna, I think that would work great! Sounds delicious! I hope you love these Baci di Dama Italian Cookies 🙂
OH I need like 10 of these to snack on tonight!!! LOL
They look so so good.
Thank you Becky!! These Italian cookies really are quite a treat!
These cookies are so good!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the Baci di Dama! Thank you Jennifer! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
Hi Natasha, for some odd reason, I can cook a gourmet meal but have always failed at baking even a store bought box, my cookies come out disaster, what is your advice? Please help!
Hi Salli, a good, tested recipe can make all the difference. Also, try to avoid the temptation to alter a recipe (that is usually what gets me in trouble) 🙂
Could you share some instructions on roasting and skinning the hazelnuts? I’ve never skinned them and am not sure how that works!
Hi Marta,
The best way to roast hazelnuts is to spread them on a baking sheet and bake @ 325F for about 12-15 minutes, tossing often. I start checking on them from around 10 minutes and remove them when they’re to desired doneness.
Next, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a ziplock bag and rub them from the outside to remove the skins. Now shake the bag until all skins fall to the bottom. Remove the nuts from the bag leaving the skins behind.
You say that these can be made with store-bought hazelnut or almond flour as this will give a more tender resulting Italian cookie. But the recipe calls for 2 cups of hazelnuts. I don’t think that 2 cups of hazelnuts ground will yield the same amount of flour. That is, 2 cups of hazelnuts will not yield 2 cups of flour, or am I wrong? So, if I use store bought hazelnut flour, how much should I use?
Hi Jeanette,
Good point!
If the hazelnut flour is scooped with a measuring cup, that packs it in and the weight gets close to what it would be for filling it with whole hazelnuts.
To avoid confusion, I guess it would be correct to say to just use equal amounts by weight, which is 10.5 oz (for 2 cups).
When you said you can use almond flour, is that to replace hazelnuts or wheat flour? I have almond flour in my cupboard from making macarons.
Hi Ann,
It’s to replace hazelnuts.
Our cup of tea ! Grazie milla 🙂
I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you! 🙂
These are amazing. Love them and can’t get enough. Can’t wait to make them for my family for Christmas.
I hope you all love them!! Thank you for that great review, Alli!
I know these will quickly become a family favorite! Adding these to my baking list.
Sounds like you found a new favorite! Thank you for that wonderful review, Sabrina!
I’m not Italian but LOVE making Italian cookies. But everyone born and bred in Buffalo is supposed to at least cook like an Italian or a good Polish gal! Thanks for the tip on the chilled butter.
My pleasure, Laura! I’m so happy I could help!
These cookies are incredible! I love chocolate and hazelnut!
I’m so happy to hear you loved these!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Could these cookies be frozen?
Yes, the cookies can be frozen just like any other cookies. Just make sure to keep them in an airtight container when you do.
Hi Natasha,
you’ve mentioned that almond flour can be used in this recipe. How much of the almond flour should be used? Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Hi Alla,
Use the same exact amount as you would use hazelnut flour, so in this recipe, it would be about 2 cups.
Hey Natasha! Thank you for the lovely recipe! It really is one of my favorites! I’ve recently baked and offered some of thrse as a gift to some friends and oh God, they sure lost their minds! They were indeed some of the most delicious cookies we have ever had. The taste was far beyond amazing. However, I had encountered a problem while preparing them. Although I had followed your instructions word-to-word, while they were being baked, the cookies had spread and lost their ball-ish shape. They became flatter, and, while the top and inside were baked beautifully, the bottom and down-sides got burnt. Do you have any idea why this may have had happened? I would really like to know your opinion on this as I admire you endlessly, and of course your advice as I intend on making these cookies again very soon. Thank you in advance!
Hi Christopher, thank you for stopping by. Without being there it is hard to say. I recommend consulting our post on measuring to make sure the measurements were off or if something was unintentionally substituted. I’m also wondering if your oven could be the culprit? I would recommend checking the internal temp and making sure it is calibrated.
Wow, thanks for the immediate response! You are the best! I will check the oven with a special thermometer next time. Unfortunately it’s a really small one and doesn’t bake very uniformly. I also suspect that the dough balls needed some more chilling. I will try and we’ll see!
I hope it works out Christopher!
Hi Marina,
These cookies look so delicious. I look forward to making them for Christmas. Would you be able to share about how far ahead these cookies can be made without filling them? How should they be stored when unfilled and filled? And how long do they last?
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Thank you Natalie!
Since the filling is just pure chocolate, the cookies can be filled and stored at room temperature covered for up to about a week. They are best eaten fresh, within a couple of days though.
The storage time does not change regardless if they’re filled or not.
Happy Holidays!