Calabrian lady’s kisses, delicious butter cookies paired with a layer of delicious filling, apricot jam, buttercream, or more indulgent flavors like Nutella, pistachio cream, or strawberry cream. For my first home try, I chose to fill them with simple apricot jam, which is the flavor I prefer, on the outside covered halfway with dark chocolate. These lady’s kisses are not the traditional ones with hazelnut dough, but they are larger cookies typical of Calabria, created in the Lametino area, where they are never missing from any pastry shop. There are similar ones to those I propose, but also in a larger cookie version, slightly thinner, about 4 inches in diameter. I tried to recreate the classic and most widespread version, but I won’t hide from you that the original recipe is not unique, in fact, each pastry shop has its own, and depending on where you eat it, the taste and texture of the cookie change. Sometimes the dough is harder, other times more melt-in-the-mouth, the taste can vary, with vanilla or orange, lemon aroma, as well as the filling and the coating change, with dark, white, or colored chocolate depending on the cream used to fill it. I have prepared a nice substantial version, those that melt in your mouth with a good Bavarian butter dough. Prepare them with me, at Christmas they cannot be missing, I would take you to see the wonder that is in our pastry shops during this period in view of Christmas, it looks like a jewelry store shining with colorful Calabrian lady’s kisses, better than diamonds.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 20
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons, Christmas

Ingredients for Calabrian Lady’s Kisses with Apricot Jam and Chocolate

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups butter
2 eggs
to taste vanilla
to taste orange and/or lemon zest (or just vanilla)
1 tsp wildflower honey
1/2 cup thick apricot jam (if not, boil and cool)
9 oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Tools for Preparing Calabrian Lady’s Kisses with Apricot Jam and Chocolate

1 Bowl
1 Small bowl
1 Glass
1 Spoon
2 Baking trays
2 Parchment paper
1 Teaspoon

Preparation Steps for Calabrian Lady’s Kisses with Apricot Jam and Chocolate

Beat the room temperature butter until creamy, add the powdered sugar and mix with a spoon, then add the honey and stir. Add the flavors, and the 2 eggs, stir to incorporate the eggs. Finally, add the flour and work to get a soft dough, you can use a little flour to close the dough, without exceeding, otherwise, go directly to the fridge and let it harden.
After at least an hour of rest in the fridge, form the cookies. Make smooth balls weighing about 1 oz each, 0.8 oz is also fine. I made 42 cookies of 1 oz each, for 21 lady’s kisses.
Place the balls on the baking tray lined with parchment paper, distribute them spaced out, to cover 2 trays, for 2 batches. Before baking, flatten the balls with the palm of your hand to widen and flatten the cookie.
Bake one tray at a time in a preheated static oven at 350°F for 15 minutes. Do not worry if the cookies are light and soft, they should be like that, they will harden as they cool.
Once ready, remove from the oven and let cool without touching. When they are well cooled, fill the base of half the cookies with apricot jam and pair them with the unfilled cookies. If the jam is too soft, it will run, so it will be necessary to cook it a little more, even in the microwave to thicken it, then use it cold.
Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave or over a bain-marie, when melted, add the oil and mix. Take each paired cookie and dip it halfway in the chocolate, then place on the baking tray on parchment paper, and repeat until finished. Let cool without moving.
When the chocolate has set, you can place your Calabrian lady’s kisses with jam, or better apricot jam and dark chocolate, on a serving tray.