Baci di Dama: how to shape the Piedmontese hazelnut kisses to exactly the same size

Weigh out all the ingredients and set them aside. For the almonds, use white almonds, i.e. peeled ground almonds. If you have whole hazelnuts, grind them finely in a food processor together with one tablespoon of the weighed sugar. The sugar binds the oil that is released, so the nuts do not turn pasty. The finer the nuts, the more delicate the texture. Preheat the oven to 160 °C convection heat.

Put the flour into a large bowl and add the ground almonds and hazelnuts, the remaining sugar, the salt and the vanilla sugar. Mix everything briefly so the ingredients are evenly distributed.

The butter should be at room temperature, i.e. soft but not liquid. Cut it into small cubes, add them to the dry ingredients and knead everything by hand until no pockets of flour remain. At first the mixture will be crumbly, but the warmth of your hands will bind it into a compact dough. If it still does not hold together after a few minutes, knead in 1 to 2 tsp soft butter (approx. 10 g). Do not add more, or the balls will spread out in the oven.

Press the dough on the work surface into a rectangular block about 1.5 cm thick. Use your flat hands to straighten the sides, so the block becomes even. If the dough is very soft and sticky, chill the block in the fridge for about 30 minutes. It will then cut much cleaner.

First cut the block with a large knife into strips about 1.5 cm wide, then cut these into cubes. Each cube should weigh 5 to 6 g. Check the first two or three cubes on precision scales. If the weight is right, cut all the others the same size and save yourself from weighing each individual ball.

Roll each cube without pressing between your palms into a smooth ball. Gentle circular motions keep the surface free of cracks. Place the balls about 2 cm apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. They hardly spread, so you can make good use of the tray.

Bake the balls at 160 °C convection for 12 to 15 minutes. They are ready when the bottoms are lightly golden while the tops stay pale. Straight out of the oven they are soft and fragile, so let them cool completely on the tray. As they cool they become firm and crumbly. A flat spot has now formed on the underside, which is where the couverture will go later.

Temper the Dark couverture in a tempering device or by hand. We show you how in our guide to tempering. Sort the cooled halves by size and always place two matching ones side by side. Dip one half briefly with the flat side into the couverture, let it drip off and press it gently onto the flat side of the second half. Use only a little couverture, so that a fine seam remains in the middle.

Place the finished Baci di Dama upright on baking paper and let the couverture set at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Only then are they stable enough for the tin.