Baci di Alassio are formed by two round-shaped “cookies,” with the veins due to the ridged tip of the “Sac à poche,” flattened on one side.

The two cookies are “glued together” by means of a chocolate cream.

 

 

 

 

 

MAKES 15 Baci

INGREDIENTS:

17 oz of shelled hazelunuts

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

3 egg whites

a pinch of salt

4 tsp of honey

 

FOR GANACHE:

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of dark chocolate

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

Toast the hazelnuts by spreading them out on the baking sheet and leave them in the oven at 350 F for 5 minutes, then let cool.
– In a kitchen mixer, finely chop the hazelnuts together with the cocoa and sugar.
– Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt and add them to the hazelnut, cocoa and sugar flour obtained earlier. Mix adding the honey until you obtain a rather thick cream.
– Pour the resulting mixture into a Sac à poche with a ridged nozzle and, on a baking tray covered with parchment paper, form mounds (clumps) of the mixture. You will get about 30, which will be used to make 15 Baci di Alassio.
– Bake them in the oven at 390 F for 12 minutes.

Now let’s move on to the cream
– Heat the cream to a temperature close to boiling, then pour it into a bowl containing the dark chocolate
– Let it sit for about 10 minutes for the chocolate to melt, then, with an electric whisk, mix and whip it.
Spread or deposit with a sac à poche a little cream on the flat part of a previously prepared cookie and “glue” another one using the cream itself as a glue.
This will produce the 15 baci di Alassio, which at this point only need cooling in the refrigerator.
Now the Baci di Alassio are ready to be enjoyed.