Baci di Dama are Italian cookies 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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I hope these Italian Cookies will become part of your holiday traditions. They’re so good!
Baci di Dama Recipe
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 Dacquoise Cake (or this Ferrero Rocher Cake from Let the Baking Begin). 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.
Helpful Reader Review
“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.” – Barbara ★★★★★
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 Baci di Dama Italian Cookies
- 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 Cookies to Try
- Almond Snowball Cookies
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Angel Wing Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Cranberry Bliss Bars (Let the Baking Begin)
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Oreshki Walnut Cookies (Let the Baking Begin)
Baci di Dama Italian Cookies
Ingredients
Italian Cookie Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnuts, roasted, skinned (2 cups = 240g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 Tbsp corn starch
- 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
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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!