The lady’s kisses are cookies that originate from Piedmont and can be made with hazelnuts or almonds. They have a unique and unmistakable shape: two hemispheres joined by a bit of dark chocolate. Their shape resembles the lips of a lady, and it is from their shape that they get their name.
Legend has it that lady’s kisses were born in the mid-1800s from the imagination of King Victor Emmanuel II’s chef. The king asked for a dessert with a new flavor, and his chef fulfilled his request by creating these wonderful treats.
Making hazelnut lady’s kisses is not difficult at all. They are perfect as a dessert after a meal, to accompany a cup of tea or coffee in the afternoon, but they can also be a delicious gift to give. You can include lady’s kisses in your Christmas cookie production and typical sweets, along with vanillekipferl, canestrelli, linzer cookies, horseshoes, and almond pastries.
Well, now let’s move on to the recipe and see together how to prepare these delicious cookies. But first, I’ll leave you some other links to hazelnut recipes that might interest you.
I also remind you that at the end of the recipe, you’ll find the procedure for making lady’s kisses with the Bimby.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 24 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Piedmont
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, Christmas
- Energy 124.58 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 11.43 (g) of which sugars 4.78 (g)
- Proteins 2.04 (g)
- Fat 8.30 (g) of which saturated 3.79 (g)of which unsaturated 4.25 (g)
- Fibers 1.26 (g)
- Sodium 1.56 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 1 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Hazelnut Lady’s Kisses
- 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts (weight without shell)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 7 tbsp butter
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet vanillin
- lemon zest (grated)
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate
Tools
- Blender
- Mixer
- Baking sheets
- Saucepan
- Scale
Steps to Prepare Hazelnut Lady’s Kisses
Let’s see together how to prepare these delicious cookies. For convenience, I used the Bimby, but you can use any blender or mixer or chopper you have at home.
Before starting the preparation of the lady’s kisses with hazelnuts, toast the hazelnuts for 10-12 minutes at 300°F. Let them cool.
Put the hazelnuts in the blender, along with the sugar and the grated lemon zest.
Blend until you have a very fine and homogeneous mixture.
Add the cubed butter, vanillin, and flour.
Blend again to combine the ingredients.
You will get a slightly compact mixture. Place it on a work surface and knead it with your hands until you get a dough.
Wrap it in plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
After the resting time in the refrigerator, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take the dough from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for a bit. To make the balls all the same size, you need to weigh them. I made them 10g each, but if you want them smaller (and therefore get more cookies) you can make balls of 5-7 grams.
Take each piece of dough and knead it a bit with your hands: if it’s cold, the dough is a bit “crumbly”: you just need to warm it slightly with your hands to be able to work it and compact it well. Shape the balls, place them on parchment paper slightly spaced apart, and put the tray back in the fridge for 1-2 hours: this step is to keep the shape during baking.
After the resting time, bake in a preheated static oven at 320°F for about 10 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, lower the temperature to 250°F and leave them for another 3-4 minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool on the tray without touching them.
Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler.
When the chocolate is completely melted, take a cookie and on the flat side (the one that was in contact with the tray) put a little dark chocolate with a teaspoon.
Take a second cookie and pair them, pressing lightly but making sure not to let the melted chocolate spill out.
Continue this way until you finish the ingredients. Let the dark chocolate of the lady’s kisses dry at room temperature. Once it has set again, you can store or enjoy them.
Hazelnut lady’s kisses are truly an irresistible treat!
Hazelnut lady’s kisses can also be made with the Bimby.
Toast the hazelnuts for about ten minutes at 300-320°F. Let them cool.
Place the hazelnuts, lemon zest, and sugar: 20 sec at speed 10 in the bowl. Gather on the bottom with the spatula.
Add the cubed butter, flour, and vanillin: 2 minutes at speed 5-6.
Remove the mixture from the bowl, compact it with your hands on a work surface, wrap it in some plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge. Then proceed as per the recipe.
Storage, Notes, and Variations
– Lady’s kisses can be stored in a tin container or another container, as long as it is well closed and away from moisture and heat.
– The cooking times indicated in the recipe refer to the size of the balls I made, which is 10g. If you decide to make the balls smaller, the cooking times will also vary and you’ll have to keep them in for a few minutes less. It always depends on your oven. In any case, to understand if the lady’s kiss cookie is cooked, you just need to gently lift one of the cookies: if the base has become golden, it means the cookie is cooked and you can take them out.
– The original recipe calls for dark chocolate, but if you prefer, you can also use white or milk chocolate. In some versions, I’ve seen Nutella used, but since it doesn’t solidify like dark chocolate, I’m not sure it can be a good alternative.
– The hazelnuts can also be toasted in an air fryer at 300°F for 10-12 minutes.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I substitute butter in lady’s kisses?
Unfortunately not. Butter is a fundamental element of the recipe. If your problem is lactose intolerance, you can use lactose-free butter.
If the lady’s kisses dough crumbles, can I add something to make it more compact?
No. The dough tends to crumble when cold, but you just need to handle it a bit with your hands to create perfectly shaped balls that keep their shape while baking. If you add anything to make the mixture firmer, your cookies may flatten out during baking.
