12 Weeks of Christmas cookis - # 8 - Baci di dama

I'm late with posting this week cookie recipe (again), but so many things happened since last Friday. Some sad, and some that made me angry. And for a moment I thought I wouldn't be able to post anything.
Then I actually found out I had several cookie recipes (some even dating as far back as last Christmas), but I didn't like the pictures or wasn't quite sure about the recipe, so I decided to play safely and opted again for a recipe from my favourite book, Manuale pratico di pasticceria (by G. Pina). At least the result was satisfying this time (I'm still angry about two failed recipes from another cookbook, and all those eggs and butter I had to throw). I guess it's just one of those moments when it's better to stay away from the kitchen for a while.
This is actually the recipe I wanted to make for a while, so yesterday when I had to make a quick decision what to do, I knew the moment was right.
It is a bit different from numerous recipes for Baci di dama you can find on internet and in various books (each and every recipe I found had different proportions between butter-sugar-flour-almonds, and all the recipes use just plain melted chocolate to join the cookies). Well, this recipe is a bit more involving, as it calls for chocolate pastry cream, but if you need something quicker, simply melt some chocolate and you'll be perfectly fine.

Wouldn't you like to recieve a box of these for Christmas?




Baci di dama (Lady's Kisses)


250 g butter
250 g powdered sugar
250 g flour
250 g almond meal
1 (organic) lemon or (organic) orange or 1/2 vanilla bean


Chocolate pastry cream:
200 g full fat milk
30 g heavy cream
50 g sugar
30 g egg yolks
10 g flour
a pinch of vanilla seeds
200 g čokolade za kuhanje(55% cocoa)

Cookies (the recipe makes about 100 single cookies, 50 when sandwiched):
Chop the butter and let it soften at room temperature for about half an hour, or soften it in the microwave at 5-seconds intervals stirring well each time until soft, but it mustn't start melting.
Add the powdered sugar to the butter and cream them together stirring with a wooden spoon.
Mix and sift together the flour and the almond meal, and stir them into the butter and sugar mixture adding the finely grated lemon or orange zest or the seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean.
Bring all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
Let the dough chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Shape the dough into really small (10 g) balls (roll them well and tightly with your hands to avoid cracking in baking) and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.



Bake the cookies in an oven preheated to 160°C for 20 minutes.
Let them cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes and then move then to a cooling rack.

Chocolate pastry cream:
Mix the milk and the heavy cream in a saucepan and heat them to 80°C (if you don't have a thermometer, it's when a tiny skin starts forming in surface), don't let it boil.
In another saucepan stir together the egg yolks and the sugar, stir in the flour and the vanilla seeds, and then add the hot milk. Stir well and then put back on the stove.
Cook the cream stirring continuously with a spoon until it starts thickening and reaches 84-85°C (at this point it gets thick enough to see the bottom of the pan while stirring with a spoon and you can see a little bubble here and there, and the cream is shiny). Transfer the cream to a large bowl and let it cool down a little and then mix 160 g of cream with the melted chocolate and stir them well until smooth and homogeneous (you will probably have a little pastry cream left, it can be conserved in the fridge for up to 24 hours and served with fruit or a piece of cake).

Place a small quantity of chocolate cream on the bottom side of each cookie and sandwich it with another empty one. Give the chocolate cream time to dry.



The cookies will keep well for up to 60 days at room temperature, closed in a plastic bag, and protected from light.

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Baci di dama


250 g di burro
250 g di zucchero a velo
250 g di farina "00"
250 g di farina di mandorle
1 limone o 1 arancia o 1/2 baccello di vaniglia


Crema al cioccolato:
200 g di latte intero
30 g di panna fresca
50 g zucchero
30 g tuorli
10 g farina
un pizzico di polpa di vaniglia
200 g di cioccolato fondente al 55%


Per i biscotti, mescolate il burro ammorbidito con lo zucchero a velo, senza montare, fino renderlo cremoso. Aggiungete la farina e la farina di mandorle, mescolate e setacciate insieme, e la scorza grattugiata di un limone o un'arancia o i semi di 1/2 baccello di vaniglia. Impastate brevemente tutti gli ingredienti e lasciate riposare in frigo per 1 ora.
Formate le palline piccolissime (10 g ciascuna) e mettetele su una placca da forno foderata con la carta da forno, leggermente distanziate una dall'altra.
Cuocete i biscotti per 20 minuti nel forno preriscaldato a 160°C.
Lasciateli raffreddare qualche minuto sulla teglia e poi spostate su una griglia.
Per la crema pasticcera al cioccolato, mescolate il latte e la panna in un pentolino e scaldate fino a 80°C (se non avete il termometro, è quando comincia ad apparire una sottile pellicola in superficie). Non lasciate bollire la miscela di latte e panna.
In un altro pentolino mescolate (senza montare) i tuorli e lo zucchero, aggiungete la farina, e per ultimo la polpa di vaniglia e mescolate di nuovo. Versate il latte caldo nella miscela di tuorli e rimettete sul fuoco. Cuocete la crema mescolando continuamente finché raggiunge la temperatura di 84-85°C (La crema è pronta quando per qualche istante vedete il segno lasciato dal passaggio del cucchiaio, qualche leggero "sbuffo" e appare lucida). Versate la crema in una ciotola e lasciatela raffreddare un po'. Emulsionate 160 g di crema con il cioccolato sciolto (se vi avvanza altra crema, conservatela in frigo fino a 24 ore e servite con la frutta o qualche dolce :))).
Unite due biscotti con un po' di crema e lasciate riposare finché la crema si indurisca.

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Baci di dama (Damski poljupci)


250 g maslaca
250 g šećera u prahu
250 g mekog brašna
250 g fino mljevenih (oguljenih) badema


Čokoladna krema
200 g punomasnog mlijeka
30 g slatkog vrhnja za šlag
50 g šećera
30 g žumanjaka
10 g brašna
prstohvat nastruganih sjemenki vanilije
200 g čokolade za kuhanje


Keksi (dobit ćete oko 100 pojedinačnih keksa od 10 g, 50 kad ih spojite):
Maslac narežite na kockice i ostavite pola sata na sobnoj temperaturi da omekša (ili ga omekšajte u mikrovalnoj pećnici u intervalima od 5 sekundi i svaki put dobro promiješajte dok ne postane mekan, ali se ne smije početi topiti).
Izmiješajte žlicom maslac sa šećerom da postane kremast, dodajte brašno i bademe koje ste pomiješali i prosijali skupa, i naribanu koricu naranče ili limuna ili nastrugane sjemenke 1/2 mahune vanilije. Kratko izmijesite rukama da dobijete glatko tijesto. Stavite tijesto u hladnjak na 1 sat.
Oblikujte kuglice težine 10 g (ako vas zanima vagala sam svaki komadić da budu svi jednake veličine :))) i stavljajte ih na pleh obložen papirom za pečenje, malo razmaknute jednu od druge.
Pecite kekse 20 minuta u pećnici zagrijanoj na 160°C. Ostavite ih par minuta na plehu, a onda ih premjestite na rešetku da se ohlade do kraja.


Krema:
Pomiješajte i zagrijte mlijeko i vrhnje do 80°C (ako nemate termometar, to je kad se na površini počne stvarati kožica – ne smije prokuhati).
U drugoj posudi pomiješajte žumanjke i šećer (žlicom ili pjenjačom), umiješajte brašno i nastrugane sjemenke vanilije, a zatim ulijte vruće mlijeko i izmiješajte.
Vratite na vatru i kuhajte neprestano miješajući žlicom dok krema ne postigne temp. od 84°C (ako nemate termometar, krema je kuhana kad se počne zgušnjavati toliko da ostaje trag na dnu kad miješate, glatka je i sjajna).
Ostavite da se krema malo prohladi, često miješajući da se ne stvori kožica. Otopite čokoladu i pomiješajte sa 160 g kreme (vjerojatno će vam ostati viška kreme - možete je čuvati u hladnjaku do 24 sata, i poslužiti uz voćni desert ili nešto sl.). Izmiješajte dobro pjenjačom da krema bude glatka i bez grumenčića.
Stavljajte malo kreme na donju stranu jednog keksa i spojite ga s drugim keksom. Za vrlo kratko će se krema stisnuti i osušiti.
Kekse možete čuvati na sobnoj temperaturi do 60 dana, dobro zatvorene u plastičnoj vrećici i na tamnom mjestu. Od ove smjese dobit ćete oko 100 pojedinačnih keksa, odnosno 50 kad su spojeni.
Umjesto čokoladne kreme, možete kekse spojiti samo otopljenom čokoladom.